For Penn freshman Catrina Chisholm and senior Emily Logan, last Saturday's meet in Princeton, N.J., was one for the record books. Both Chisholm and Logan broke Penn records in the hammer throw and the 3,000-meter run, respectively.
For Chisholm, the record not only showed her talent, but also a taste of things to come in the future. She shattered the school record of three years by almost 15 feet. Princeton's Laura Okpala was Chisholm's closest competition, finishing 38 feetbehind her.
"It was awesome," Logan said. "All the throwers work really hard and she's been having a great season."
Logan's 3,000 meters performance was her second long-distance record of the season. She broke a 12-year-old school record by 26 seconds.
The East Walpole, Mass., native credited the conditions and a great track at Princeton.
"It was a good day, the weather was good; I knew before the race that if everything went according to plan I should break the record," she said.
Helped by their two record-setters, the Quakers were able to defeat Ivy foe Princeton, 71-55, but fell just six points short of Yale.
The loss was so narrow that only one or two races separated the two teams. But, Logan thinks the Quakers are just starting to pick up steam.
"Everybody's running really well," she said. "We have a really good opportunity at Heps [the Ivy League Championship], not necessarily to win, but we'll probably have our best performance at Heps for the past few years."
The Penn men's team finished 1-1 in a dual meet, hosting Princeton and Villanova on Saturday. The men, hampered by injuries, destroyed the Wildcats, 112-51, but fell short of the talented Tigers, 110.5-80.5.
The loss did not come as a surprise to the injury-ridden Quakers.
"We expected that," Penn senior Matt Wedge explained. "Princeton had a full core, and we're still battling back from a few injuries."
Penn was also missing national champion javelin thrower Brian Chaput and a number of other hammer and discus throwers.
But, according to Wedge, the meet was only a taste of things to come.
"Once Heps comes around and we have all our guys back we're gonna give everyone a run for their money," he said. "Some of the younger guys are starting to step up and a couple guys are battling back from injuries."
For both the Penn men and women these meets were only warmups for next month, which will feature a number of big meets including Heps and the Penn Relays.
