Penn track and field’s regular season has finally come to a close. But its team energy most certainly has not.
Coming off a historic weekend in Clemson, S.C. and Boston, the Quakers were determined to prove that they still have fuel in their engine as they head into the postseason. And they certainly did this weekend at the Princeton Invitational, posting several strong individual performances.
The highlight of the weekend came from sophomore Mayyi Mahama, who is already having an impressive season while continuing to reset her own personal record seemingly every week. This weekend, she dominated her opponents in the weight throw, launching a powerful throw of 21.43 meters, almost five full meters ahead of the next best finisher.
The throw was not only a program record, but it was also the best in Ivy League history, breaking a mark held by Harvard's Adabelle Ekechukwu since 2013. Mahama broke the Ancient Eight record by nearly two feet.
Other notable performances from the Red and Blue came from freshman Caleb Johnson on the men’s pole vault, who posted a mark of 5.12m, the sixth-best in Penn’s history, as well as from sophomore Claire Moreau, who won the women’s high jump with a mark of 1.65m. Moreau was the only Quaker other than Mahama to win an event on the weekend.
Johnson, whose pole vault was a personal record, is showing that he has a bright future for the Quakers. He was the No. 1 pole vaulter in Pennsylvania as a high schooler and already has etched his name into the record books in his first year in college.
Penn came close to securing a first-place finish in the shot put, as senior Maura Kimmel finished just 0.30m behind the winner with a distance of 14.69m.
Meanwhile, freshman Andrew Colbert finished third in the high jump with a mark of 1.95m, which was only 0.09m short of the first-place finisher.
Penn will now begin to prepare for the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships next weekend, which are being hosted by Cornell. The Quakers will look to build on their performances as they look to take home a title.
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