W. Track stellar in first meet

The Penn women's track team kicked off its season with a bang.

The Quakers, who last spring lost 11 seniors to graduation, have counted on the newest members of the squad so far this season.

"The freshmen have brought a new found energy to the team," Penn sophomore Kai Ivory said.

This energy paired with the experience of the upperclassmen -- including junior Petra Stewart and senior Jeraldine Cofie -- helped the Quakers immensely this past Saturday at the Brown Invitational.

"We definitely did well across the board," Penn assistant coach Tony Tenisci said. "We all came out feeling very up and optimistic about this season."

Stewart stole the 400m dash in a time of 58.93 seconds, while Cofie captured a victory in the 500m dash with a time of 1:17.20. Cofie also was involved in the nail-biting but victorious 4x400m relay, which proved to be the highlight of the Invitational for the Quakers.

"We were third up until the last handoff when Jeraldine Cofie came off the last corner strong and made up the deficit," Tenisci said.

"She really flew off that corner, beating out two really great teams -- Brown and UConn."

In the pole vault, Penn freshman Sam Crook established herself with a third-place showing. She was one of the many Quaker freshmen who contributed at Brown.

"You could say the freshmen really got baptized [at the Brown Invitational]," Tenisci said. "They really got in there and got down to business."

The younger girls on the team are indeed beginning to find their niches, thanks in part to the help of their upperclassmen teammates.

"The freshmen achievement is arguably in part due to the tremendous leadership of the upperclassmen competitors," Tenisci said. "Cofie and Petra really showed the girls how to do it."

The Red and Blue are encouraged after such a strong start. Next Saturday's meet at the Princeton Invitational should prove to be another test for the quick Quakers.

"We are a small team this year," Stewart said. "But we definitely make up for it in quality."

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