Kaijala gives his 800m rivals the cold shoulder

By josh whEeling

Senior Staff Writer

jw4@sas.upenn.edu

It must have taken snow to finally make Tim Kaijala feel at home.

The junior middle-distance runner charged ahead of the pack to easily win the men's 800-meter race on Saturday with a NCAA Regional, qualifying time of 1:50.3.

This was all on an afternoon in which the Penn Invitational - pitting the Quakers against Cornell, La Salle, Army, Navy and runners from many other schools - saw temperatures in the low-40s, strong winds and at one point violent, horizontal snow.

Not the typical track weather.

"I really wanted to get the regional time," Kaijala said. "The time was 1:50.4 and I squeaked in there at 1:50.3, so with the wind and the weather I'm real happy with it."

The Muskegon, Mich., native wasn't focusing on the people around him, but instead about hitting all of his checkpoints the way that coach Charlie Powell had set for him.

"I just wanted to get out fast and get in front of everybody and just try and keep even splits. I hit the first, and coach kept telling me perfect at every split so I knew with 200 to go I could really go for it."

He wasn't worried about the weather, either.

"It's pretty freezing, but luckily I'm from Michigan, so to me, it's kind of like summer," Kaijala said.

In all, the men's team won five of the 20 overall events, with all of the wins coming on the track, and none in the eight field events.

Penn's football players had a nice day, as sophomore sprinter and defensive back Joey Brown won the 100m (10.75 seconds) and running back Sam Shepherd won the 400m (48.42). Andrew Anderson (22.36, 200m) and the 4x100m 'A' team (41.78) rounded out the victories for Penn.

For the other Quakers squad, it was a one-woman show.

Freshman Laura McDaniel posted career-best times in the 100m and 200m, 12.38 and 25.64 seconds respectively, taking first in both of those events.

"I thought Laura did a great job today," women's coach Gwen Harris said. "She's starting to [be so] focus[ed], and as a freshman I think she's doing an excellent job."

McDaniel isn't from the north, but she bared the elements better than almost anyone out there. She won the 200m, her preferred race, by 0.73 seconds, a healthy margin for such a short race. In all, her Franklin Field debut was a solid one.

"I felt pretty good today, it was kinda cold, but it was nice running at home," McDaniel said. "It's the first time we've raced on our home track this year, and the first time for me since I'm a freshman, so it's pretty exciting."

Outside of McDaniel, the women's team only won one other event - Iman Johnson's 12.66m shot put - out of the 18 in total. Penn did get five second-place finishes, though, including junior Jesse Carlin's 400m (56.47) and freshman Liza Lozovatskaya's 3.35m pole vault.

Harris knows that the squad still has some work left before the Penn Relays three weeks from now, but she has confidence that the team will be fine.

"I don't think there are any weaknesses," Harris said. "It's cold as crap out here."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.