First place in the triple jump just wasn't enough at the Bucknell Invite on Saturday. Penn athletes swept the event, taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places.
Junior Camille Richard won the event with a jump of 11.71 meters. Although the effort was not a personal best, Richard was pleased with the result.
"I qualified for ECACs [with that jump]," Richard said. "My coaches and I are really happy that I did that on the first meet, so now I can concentrate on working up from that."
In addition to their success in the triple jump, the Quakers took home the gold in three other individual events: the 400m dash, the 1000m race and the 1600m run.
Senior Shaunee Morgan was pleased with her first place finish in the 400m dash, as she returned after an injury last spring.
"So I guess I was really excited going in, it's been so long," Morgan said. "My goal was to take it out fast the first lap, to win it from the gun."
Morgan is currently shifting her focus from the 60m and 200m events to primarily the 400 and 200. She said a greater emphasis on distance training for helping her succeed on Saturday.
"Training longer helps with your endurance, the ability to maintain your speed for a longer period of time," Morgan added. "It really helped with my ability to come back that second lap."
Morgan finished with a time of 56.75 seconds.
Other top finishers for the day include senior Jamie Liberti, who won the mile with a time of 5:08:55, and senior Jesse Carlin, who won the 1000m in a time of 2:52.41 in qualifying for the ECACs in her first time competing in the 1000m event at the collegiate level.
How does coach Gwen Harris explain Carlin's 1000m debut?
"She's a good athlete," Harris said.
Carlin, who is no stranger to winning, qualified last season for the NCAAs in the 800m run.
Although it was only the first meet of the year, at least six different Penn women achieved new personal records.
"A lot of girls did a nice job," Harris said of the Bucknell meet.
"We didn't have too many expectations; it was the first meet. We just wanted to see how we could do."
Richard, the winner of the triple jump, deemed this a "see where you are meet. It's a good indicator for what our season is going to be like."
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