The events were not scored.
Not all of the runners participated.
The meet did not count.
So the question is, why does anyone care?
In reality, not many people do, aside from the team and the coaching staff themselves. However, the New Year Invitational, held in Princeton, N.J., was the first chance for men's track coach Charlie Powell to see what his runners are capable of for the upcoming season.
"It felt really good start to the season and we were happy with what we did, even though it is a preliminary meet," Powell said.
The Penn squad consisted of only the athletes who have been training throughout the fall season. None of the distance runners nor the football players participated, with both teams just wrapping up their respective seasons.
There were, however, many things Powell can be optimistic about for the upcoming season. Eleven of Penn's athletes finished in the top five in seven different events - with the most impressive showing in the 1000 meter run, in which Penn runners took the top three places. Sophomore Bryan Scotland finished first with a time of 2:30.28 followed by junior John Guzman, who finished at 2:31.33. Rounding out the top three was freshman Kevin Kiley at 2:36.35.
Other top performers included junior Tim Kaijala, who finished first in the mile run with a time of 4:14.35 and junior decathlete Kyle Calvo, who finished first in the 60 meter hurdles at 8.24 after reaching the NCAA championships in Sacramento, Calif. last year in different events.
Big things are expected out of both Kaijala and Calvo this season, as they look to be two of the leaders for the Quakers.
But more than anything preliminary meets are a chance for rookies to prove their stuff. And two freshmen did just that, showing Powell that they could be legitimate threats by the time Ivy League competition rolls around.
Ben McKean finished sixth in the 500 meter dash with a time of 1:08.36. John Carelli finished fifth in the long jump at 6.85 meters and fourth in the high jump, at a height of 14.10 meters.
Powell was excited about the rookies' performance.
"Anything you get out of the freshmen is gravy," he said. "The freshmen are the guys who can get the decisive points and make or break a meet. They can put us over the top."
But as with any performance, there are some areas in which Powell hopes to improve, the team's durability being chief among them.
"Our main concerns are that I hope we stay healthy, hope that we don't have a depth problem, and right now we don't have a real high jumper. We try to make those points up by offsetting them with our other field events," Powell said.
If the Quakers can fix some minor issues, Powell believes there is no reason why they cannot have a successful season. But he will have to wait until February and March to find out if he is right.
