M. Track falls at Heps again

In many ways, Indoor Heptagonal Championships were a repeat performance of last year for the Penn men's track team.

The Quakers put up a good fight, but once again finished tied for second as Princeton grabbed its fifth consecutive Heps title.

Last year, a surprising Penn squad took second overall.

In this year's competition, Penn tied Dartmouth with a score of 81 points, 46 short of the Tigers.

This year, the Quakers were aiming to take down the Tigers, as they did in the Outdoor Championships last season.

"We didn't have any real blowups [at Heps]," Penn junior Sam Burley said. "It wasn't a bad meet for us, in my opinion."

"We just expected to be at the top."

Burley finished second in the 800 in a time of 1:53.07, a mere seven-hundreths of a second behind Vincent Galgano of Columbia. Burley made a run at the finish, but could not claim the title.

"I had a poor race," Burley said. "Heps is my Bermuda Triangle... I could say all sorts of excuses, but really it was just a poor race."

Burley has qualified for NCAA Indoor Championships this year, running a Penn-record 1:48.85.

The Quakers did, however, take three individual championships on the weekend. Penn senior Tuan Wreh completed a trifecta of Heps wins, taking his third-consecutive triple jump crown with a leap of 15.63 meters. Another senior, O'Neil Bryan, took his second-consecutive win at Indoor Heps, winning the 60m hurdles in a time of 8.02 seconds.

The Quakers' Chris Edmonds, who is only a sophomore, won the 400m dash with a time of 48.89.

Penn junior Brian Abram nabbed third place in he 500m with a time of 1:04.72. Harvard's Kobie Fuller won the event with a time of 1:03.39.

Three freshmen also had good first Heps outings. Nolan Tully took fourth in the 3,000m with a time of 8:29, while Dusty Lieb also grabbed a fourth-place finish with a 14:36.40 finish in the 5,000m.

Also, Neal Wojdowski tied for fourth in the pole vault with a height of 4.80 meters.

One disappointing spot for Penn was its 4x400 team, a longstanding strong point for the Red and Blue. The Quakers' team of Abram, sophomore Luqmon Kolade, Edmonds and Burley crossed the line in third place with a time of 3:19.4.

"We made a pact [after the race] to not lose to any Ivy teams for the rest of the year," Burley said. "We expected to win.

"It was little things like [the 4x400] that went wrong. There were no huge disappointments... the freshmen came up huge, and a large percentage of our athletes had personal bests."

Some of the Quakers will be looking for redemption next weekend as they travel to Boston to compete in the IC4A Championships. Although the regional championships are a big deal for some, Burley does not see it that way.

"We're not trying to peak for IC4A's -- a lot of people will be running different events, and some are staying home to prepare for the outdoor season," he said. "We're still trying to do well, but it's not nearly as important."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.