W. Track welcomes foreigners to Penn

The Penn women's track team welcomed an unusual variety of competitors to Franklin Field this weekend for the season's second Quaker Invitational. The most noticeable thing about these unfamiliar opponents was not their running style, speed or uniforms -- it was their accents. Squads from Oxford and Cambridge made this weekend's Quaker Invitational into a duel between countries, not just colleges. "Its always exciting to have foreigners around; they always bring a different excitement to the meet," Penn assistant coach Tony Tenisci said. "This is their big tour and its very important that they do well." The Oxford and Cambridge squads added to a talented field of Quakers opponents last weekend, proving themselves worthy competitors in the United States. "I think its all in good fun," Penn co-captain JaJuan Gair said. "As far as the camaraderie, I think it's been really positive." The only thing the Red and Blue wish they could change was the disappointing performance from Mother Nature. The Quakers were hoping that last week's good weather would carry over into the weekend, but they weren't so lucky. "No one can change the weather -- the spring is the spring," Tenisci said. "It's really hurting our athletes because they can't relax or feel good. They're ready to go, but the weather is not." Despite the dismal conditions, the Red and Blue managed to perform well. Penn dominated the sprinting events, placing either one or two athletes in the top-10 in the 100-meter dash, the 200, the 100-meter high hurdles and the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. Gair, having recently overcome an injury she suffered last season, gave an excellent performance. Gair placed second in the high hurdles and sixth in the 200. "We're dealing with some injuries and then the weather, so I think we did really well today," Gair said. "Today was all about going out and beating the British." While the Quakers did quite well in the sprints, they met with less success in the long distance events. La Salle, Cornell and the Oxford-Cambridge teams completely dominated the longer events on the weekend. "We're ready for everything to be on at the same time," Gair said. "When it all comes together, its going to be very good for our team." Penn amassed some major points in the field events. Senior Bassey Adjah and sophomore Meredith Bunche obliterated the competition in the long jump, placing first and second respectively. Bunche also placed third in the triple jump. Freshman Caroline Rebello continued her success in the pole vault, finishing a close second. The throwers were integral in Penn's success as well. Senior Yinka Orafidiya pulled through for the Quakers in the hammer throw, taking third. In the discus, senior co-captain Monica Maccani took third with a throw only four feet off Penn's school record. Freshman Tonia Sabino placed seventh in the shot put and sophomore Julie Siebert-Johnson ended up fifth in the javelin. "I think overall we did really well considering the conditions," Sabino said. "We're pretty consistent, but we're still behind where we should be at this point. We're making strides."

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