It looks like all Courtney Jaworski needed was some competition.
Saturday, the junior finished seventh in the nation in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Championship in Sacramento, Calif. Jaworski clocked in with a personal best time of 1:46.70 in the final.
"I haven't had many races this year that have allowed me to run at my potential," Jaworski said.
He was not the only athlete wearing the Penn uniform at the meet, as senior pole vaulter Samantha Crook finished 17th in the pole vault and freshman Kyle Calvo came in 13th in the long jump.
Jaworski finished third in his preliminary heat on June 8 with a time of 1:48.45, qualifying 10th out of 16 for the semifinals. The next day, Jaworski grabbed the last qualifying spot, beating Prince Mumba of Oral Roberts by .12 seconds. By advancing to the finals, the Tacoma, Wash., native was named an All-American at the distance.
And then it was on to the finals, where he faced a whole new level of competition.
"We got out really fast, faster than I usually go out," Jaworski said.
He completed the first 400 meters in the 50 second range, noticeably faster than his usual 51- to 52-second clip, but lingered about a meter behind the rest of the pack. With 200 meters to run, Jaworski began his kick and caught Peter Etoot of Alabama, beating him by a tenth of a second. He missed catching 2004 Olympian Jonathan Johnson of Texas Tech by .27 seconds.
Dmitrijs Milkevics, a 23-year-old sophomore from Nebraska won the event in 1:44.74.
Jaworski moved into second place on Penn's all-time list with his finals mark, behind only 2003 national champion Sam Burley. He also beat his best time of the season by over a second.
"I want to say it was the magnitude of the event," Jaworski said of the reason for his personal best, "just the people running in that race."
Calvo, a freshman, is already turning plenty of heads in the long jump.
His jump of 7.36m (24 feet, 1.75 inches) put him 13th in Sacramento, two centimeters short of the distance needed to advance to the 12-man final.
Only two freshmen advanced to the national competition, and of the two, Calvo turned in the better jump.
"I wish I could have done better, but I had a pretty good season before that," Calvo said.
Crook ends her career as Penn's indoor and outdoor record holder in the pole vault, and that career culminated with a personal record of an even four meters at the NCAA Championship.
"When I got here, she said to me she wanted to go to nationals, and she put forth the effort," Penn women's track and field coach Gwen Harris said.
Four meters ended up being the qualifying height for the finals, but all the qualifiers at four-meters cleared the bar on their first jump, while it took Crook three tries.
"She gave her best shot, so you couldn't have asked for more," Harris said. "She PR'ed; she did her best."
Part of the reason for her success may have been her training, according to her coach. The pole vaulter had been running in practice with Penn's top sprinter Izu Emeagwali, which helped her fly down the runway.
While Crook's career with the Quakers came to an end in Sacramento, for Jaworski and Calvo, the future is bright.
Although he considers a national championship next year to be within reach, it was not the first thing that came to his mind when asked about his goals.
"I'd really like to get Sam
Burley's record," Jaworski said.
Burley ran a 1:45.39 in 2002, nearly a second and a half faster than Jaworski's NCAA mark.
But next up for Jaworski is a more direct shot at Burley, as both will be running at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships next week in Los Angeles.
Calvo, who is not just a long jumper, said he will continue his multi-event competitions next year and try to refine his high jumping.
But his performance in the long jump has him ready to go for 2006.
"Getting 13th at Nationals, now I just want to go back there and do really well, and I'm going to be training hard this summer so I can have an even better season next year."
