W. Track finishes last at Heps

Dartmouth's Hanover, N.H., seemed especially dreary to the women of Penn's track team this past weekend. Despite a few solid performances, the Quakers finished last place at Heptagonal Champioships -- the culminating event of the indoor season. "A lot of people didn't perform as well as they are capable of." Penn sophomore Claire Duncan said. "I'm not talking about failure to accomplish great things -- a lot of us didn't even reach a level that we have at previous meets." The meet was not a complete disaster -- five people finished in the top six to earn Penn its 13 points. Cornell won the meet with 114 points. Top scorer Grace Maloney did not break a personal record but finished in second place behind Columbia's Aoife Keane. After tying each other at a height of 5-feet-7 inches, the athletes participated in a jump-off after the regular competition. Maloney just missed winning the event, but still brought in eight points. Penn sophomore Izu Emeagwali competed in two individual events -- the 60m dash and the 200m. Running the 60m dash in 7.99 seconds was good enough for a sixth-place finish -- earning her team one point. Emeagwali also broke Penn's previous school record. "Izu did really well," Duncan said. "She doesn't ever do the 4x400 but others who usually do it were sick or injured. She ran an awesome split." According to Duncan, Michelle Hart turned in a "really gutsy performance." Despite having bronchitis and "feeling lousy," Hart did better than many of her healthy teammates. "In the pentathlon Michelle's high jump was spectacular," Duncan said. "It was awesome to watch her compete." Her high jump, in fact, was the best among all the pentathletes at 5-feet-3.75 inches. She did well enough in the other events to finish ninth in the pentathlon. Hart also made it to the finals in the 60m hurdles and finished eighth overall with a time of 9.11. Penn's other pentathlon competitor, Kai Ivory, finished sixth and earned a point for the Quakers. The longer events did not see any top six finishers for Penn, and the Quakers were similarly displeased with their performances. "We practice really hard but we don't reach that level at competition," freshman Dana McCurdy said. "We know we can get better and learn how to be more competitive." The field event athletes performed consistently at Heps compared with their past performances. Sam Crook finished fifth in the pole vault, clearing a height of 12-feet-2.5 inches, and Heidi Albrecht finished sixth in the weight throw with a distance of 49-feet-1.75 inches. Both field athletes and runners hope that their work during the winter will yield better results in the spring. "We aren't happy about this meet, but our coach instills in us that we are good," McCurdy said. "She treasures us and knows we have what it takes. She wants us to do well." Duncan, however, does not want her teammates to forget about Heps and the disappointments associated with it. "We need it to motivate us in our spring season."

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