Senior Kristen Judge couldn’t clear 1.72 meters. But nobody else could either.
She jumped off the mat and ran back to celebrate with coach Gwen Harris who stood clapping furiously at the edge of the jumping area.
Judge, the senior from Tewksbury, Mass., managed to get over bar at 1.68 meters but missed on all three attempts at her next height. It didn’t matter as all her competitors also failed and Judge was declared the winner after having jumped flawlessly at the lower heights.
In the process, Judge secured a win in the Eastern Championship in the women’s high jump and set the tone during a strong day for the Penn women’s track team.
Paige Madison got to the Quakers off to a quick start in the morning session. She posted a 1:01.76 in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, which although is a second off her fastest time this year, came amidst light right and chilly weather that persisted throughout the morning.
Next up was the Quaker 4×100-meter relay.
Sophomore Gabrielle Piper led off with a fast first leg, and she and Leah Brown got the Quakers off to a fast start. However, a fumbled handoff on the third exchange between senior Emily Townsend and junior Nony Onyeador nearly cost the Red and Blue.
Fortunately for the home team, Onyeador recovered and managed to speed by two teams to place the Quakers in the ECAC 4×100-meter relay final on Friday afternoon.
In the field, Davielle Brown tied a career-high when she cleared 3.65 meters in the women’s pole vault. Brown couldn’t clear 3.80 meters as she ran through on her first attempt and kicked the bar on her second and third attempts. The result was nonetheless impressive for Brown who owns fourth place all-time on Penn’s record board and tied a career best.
Javelin thrower Morgan Wheeler continued her consistent performance throughout the year as she broke 44 meters for the third time. The junior had 44.13-meter bomb to place third overall.
Penn had its best relay performance on the track in the 4×400-meter relay. A senior team of Renee McDougall, Paige Madison, Victoria Strickland and Leah Brown finished behind Cornell by five-hundredths of a second. Their final time was 3:43.43.
The Quakers even had a solid performance from Kersie Jhabvala on distance night. The sophomore, running in the 10,000 meters, recorded a personal best time of 36:56.46, the sixth fastest time in Penn’s history.
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