By Samuel Mondry-Cohen
Staff Writer
smondryc@sas.upenn.edu
Men's track heads to New York on Friday for the Great Dane Classic, and they could care less about winning. Because track's season rests solely on their final meet, the team is free to concentrate on other goals for the remainder of the season.
While Penn isn't chasing after accolades, assistant coach Jamie Cook has clear aspirations for the team.
"We'd like to compete for a victory in some events," he said. "But it's more important to get the work in and be ready for the end of the year. It's not that we don't care about this meet, but we are more focused on being ready for the end of the year."
Track's schedule is not a time-filler until the conference championships - it gives the athletes a chance to compete. "One benefit is that we race into shape," Cook said.
With the final meet holding so much importance, the team needs the whole season to ensure they are ready come February. Cook is looking to see his athletes come out with fire, ready to compete. He also stressed the importance of making good decisions in a race environment.
An overarching goal of the team is to stay healthy, something they have been fortunate with all year. The number one sign of a successful meet will be a healthy one for the Red and Blue.
Quakers fans can look to juniors Tim Kaijala and Kyle Calvo to compete for individual victories in the mile and long jump, respectively.
Kaijala took first place earlier in the season at the Navy invite with a time of 4:09:79. Calvo's career-best jump of 7.61 meters should also put him with the contenders this weekend.
Those individual victories will not be easy, with defending Great Dane Classic champion Rutgers at the event, as well as 26 other Division I schools.
But success won't be measured by a win this week, but rather by a victory several weeks down the road.
