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By Cole Jacobson · June 11, 2016

It’s the end of an era for Penn men’s track and field. After years of service leading the rebuild of the Quakers’ men’s program, senior superstars Sam Mattis and Thomas Awad donned the Red and Blue for the final time on Friday evening, competing in the discus throw and 5000-meter run, respectively, at the 2016 NCAA Track and Field Champions in Eugene, Ore.  Mattis finished in second place in the men’s discus throw earning his third consecutive first team All-American honors, while Awad took 22nd place in the men’s 5000m to secure an honorable mention All-America spot. Penn’s evening was opened by Mattis, who was the presumptive favorite in his signature event all season after setting a still-standing American-born collegiate record with a gargantuan toss of 67.45 meters back at the Philadelphia College Classic in March – a full sixteen feet further than the next farthest throw by an NCAA athlete in 2016, courtesy of Kansas’ Mitchell Cooper. But Mattis – attempting to become Penn’s first two-time national champion since Bruce Collins won the 400m hurdles in 1972 and 1974 – struggled early on, barely advancing into the final flight with a first round mark of 57.98 meters.







Senior track star Tommy Awad booked his place at the U.S. Olympic Trials this summer with a trail-blazing time of 3:37.75 — placing him second all-time in the Ivy League record books.

With a quarter of a second to spare, senior distance runner Thomas Awad took a colossal step towards representing the United States in the Rio Olympics this August. Last Monday at the Swarthmore Final Qualifying meet, Awad recorded a personal best in the 1,500 meter race with a historic time of 3:37.75, narrowly giving him an automatic qualification to compete in this July’s United States Olympic Trials.










While most of the the track and field stars performed to expectation, senior distance runner Tommy Awad was denied that chance when he was allegedly pushed to the ground with one lap to go in the 5000m at Heps this Sunday.

While all of Penn spent its weekend trying to end the semester with a bang by studying hours on end, one group of students spent its time seeking to go out with a bang by throwing things, jumping around, and running in circles.





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