M. Track excels in St. Valentine's Invite at Boston University

Two individuals and one relay team qualified for the IC4As, which take place March 6-8. The Penn men's track team has been "talking the talk" all season, but this weekend they finally managed to "walk the walk." And they ran, jumped and threw, too. The Quakers traveled to the Boston University Armory to compete in the St. Valentine's Invitational on Saturday in a meet that was optional for many of the athletes. According to Penn assistant coach Nathan Taylor, some of the athletes, including Stan Anderson and Brent Stiles, did not make the trip because "some of them feel like they're in a really good training groove," and they wanted to save their best performances for the Heptagonals next week. Although most of the runners went to Boston, only about half of the field event athletes competed. "The people that went did pretty well," Penn sophomore Kyle Turley said. "I've been kind of tailing off in the last few meets, [but] my coach is happy with how I did -- I threw close to my [personal record]." Turley finished fifth in the weight throw with a toss of 55'8.25". "I just wanted to throw because I like to. I was the only thrower there -- I was the only big man on the bus." After a season full of ups and downs, the pole vaulters feel they have finally stopped the roller coaster ride. Last week's improvements in technique paid dividends this weekend as the Quakers claimed three of the top four spots. Penn sophomore Aaron Prokopec led the vaulters with a first place finish of 16', good enough to qualify for the IC4As. Bob Reynolds tied for second after clearing 14'11.75" and John Church finished fourth with the same height. "I'm happy that I finally did well," Prokopec said. "It's been kind of discouraging, [but] I knew I'd make something sooner or later. "We have a lot better attitude going into Heps now -- for the most part people improved quite a bit." With Anderson -- an NCAA qualifier in the triple jump -- taking the weekend off, there was room for Penn freshman Tuan Wreh to show off his stuff. Wreh finished first with a jump of 49'.75". "I guess it was like 'Stan's not there, I just can't give away the victory to someone else,'" Wreh said. "He's the man right now, but I wasn't going to go down there and let someone else take the victory from Penn." Penn senior captain Dan Nord did not beat his twin brother, Jeff, in the 55-meter high hurdles, but this was the first time Dan had competed in the event this season. Nord did place second in the long jump, in what he called the one event in which they are "comparable." "Captain" Dan will have to wait until next weekend at Heps to compete against his brother, who attends Brown University, in the long jump for Nord family bragging rights. "It was a good meet," Nord said. "It was exciting to see everyone compete. A lot of the guys did really well." The distance runners were paced by junior Sean MacMillan's fourth place finish in the 1,000-meter run at 2:27.22. MacMillan added an IC4A qualifying time in the 1,000-meter to his previous qualification in the mile. "It was good to get something different in before heps," MacMillan said. "I think overall everybody was happy with the meet. Everyone performed better than they have -- there were a lot of personal bests." Another notable Quakers performer was junior Scott Clayton, who finished 15th in the mile with a time of 4:9.31. At this meet the 4x400-meter relay team of Darryl Olczak, Terrance Whitehead, Steve Faulk and Mike Aguilar took an incredible seven seconds off its average to qualify for the ICs with a time of 3:16.12 and an 11th place finish. "It was like a big weight lifted up," Aguilar said. "It's one of those extra things we got through, and got through well." The Quakers will take this performance with them to Heps next week along with the assurance that they can compete with the rest of the Ivy League schools. "For most of the guys, I was very pleased," Taylor said. "It showed that the hard work they've been putting into their workouts will pay-off in improved performances."

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