Carrying Penn to first title since 1996, Abby Hong earns DP Sports Player of week

Attempting to choose a single standout performer from Penn Athletics this weekend was a nearly impossible task. 

AJ Brodeur led the Quakers in a win over Harvard that put them in sole possession of first place in the conference. Meanwhile, the women toppled Dartmouth behind Ashley Russell's career-high 21 points to punch its ticket to the Ivy League Tournament.

Moving from the hardwood to the historic confines of Franklin Field, the Quaker lacrosse teams took turns defeating the sport's blue bloods in dramatic fashion. The women, led by four goals from Zoe Belodeau, took down Johns Hopkins, and the men, led by Chris Santangelo’s heroic performance at the faceoff X, shocked No. 1 Duke with a comeback 10-9 victory. In the pool, Mark Andrew broke a pair of school records to bring home two individual Ivy titles for Penn men's swimming.

In a normal week, any one of these individuals would have earned DP Sports Player of the Week honors, but as the above indicates, this was no normal weekend — it was an exceptional weekend.

That sentiment holds true especially for the women’s track and field team, which won the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships for the first time since 1996 behind long-distance runner Abby Hong. Dubbed the “distance queen” by Penn Athletics, Hong concluded the weekend by dominating the 5000-meter race after winning the 3000m earlier in the weekend.

The senior also obliterated the Penn track and field record in the 5000m. Her time of 16:24.46 shaved over four seconds off the previous mark to cement her place in Penn track and field lore and provide the perfect ending to the Penn women’s indoor track and field’s best weekend in 22 years.