Putting the Penn in Penn Relays

It may have been easy for the Penn men's track and field team to get lost in the crowd at the Penn Relays this weekend, but Quakers' history was made.

The Red and Blue started the Relays off with a bang Wednesday when senior Max Westman won the decathlon, a two-day event, with 6,842 points. He was the first Penn athlete to win the event since 1932. Only Mount St. Mary's matches Penn's number of decathlon champions (nine).

The Quakers had just two athletes competing Thursday -- junior Kevin Sullivan and freshman Austin Santillo - both of whom ran the 5,000 meters. Sullivan posted a season-best time of 15:09.56 and finished 38th.

Penn coach Charlie Powell was very pleased at how his squad began Friday's day of competition, as junior Jeremy Sinclair finished 17th out of 49 competitors in the 400 hurdles. His time of 53.11 bested his IC4A time from earlier this season. Although this finish may seem unremarkable, Powell insisted that it was a major personal best for Sinclair and is a great lead-in to the Heptagonal Championships in two weeks.

In the heptagonal version of the 4x400 relay, which featured only Ivy League teams, Penn finished second at 3:16.14 - the best time posted by the squad all year. Junior David Lint led off for the Red and Blue, followed by senior Kevin Benjamin and junior Ben McKean and anchored by senior Sam Shepherd.

"We were hoping to run a little better than 3:16," Powell said. "But we were second to Cornell and beat everybody else in the Ivy League so we were happy with that."

The Quakers' second victory -- and only other Penn Relays title besides Westman's win - came Friday, when junior Anthony Abitante won the Eastern College men's pole vault with a mark of 5.10 meters (which didn't quite top the 5.16 meters he cleared over a week ago that qualified him for Regional Championships).

The Red and Blue began Saturday on another high note with junior John Carelli's performance in the high jump. The native of Allentown, Pa., posted a mark of 15.31 meters - only inches short of the personal best that he set at the Quakers' meet against Oxford and Cambridge last weekend. He placed ninth amongst some of the toughest competitors in the country, performing better than many from the Big 12 and SEC.

The Quakers also participated in the 4x800 relay Championship of America Saturday against competitors such as Arkansas, LSU and Texas. Penn finished 13th with a time of 7:50.31.

Having broken the 42-second mark for the first time this season Friday with a time of 41.85, the 4x100 relay team advanced to compete in the IC4A final. They continued to improve their time Saturday, clocking in at 41.57. Although the team only finished eighth against competitors like East Carolina and Buffalo, the runners still found satisfaction in their performance.

"They had a great run," Powell said. "41.57 out of lane one is a heck of a time. There was great competitiveness. They did a great job."

Senior relay members Joey Brown, Kevin Benjamin and Kevin Baidoo couldn't ask for a much better end to their Penn Relays career.

"It's amazing to go out this way," Brown said. "We had a great 4x100 squad, the best we've had in four years. I'm excited to go to Regionals with these guys and just blow it out. It's been a great year."

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