W. Track back to Ithaca for Heps
The Penn women's track team will compete for the second time in two weeks in Ithaca, N.Y., when it ventures northward for the Indoor Heptagonal Championships.
In the Kane Cornell Invitational on Feb. 9, the Quakers turned in a stellar performance, highlighted by a number of first-place finishes.
A quartet of sophomores -- Abbi Gleeson, Grace Maloney, Tonia Sabino and Kai Ivory -- led the way for Penn by earning victories in their respective events.
Penn's other top finish, which was posted by senior Jeraldine Cofie, came with a slight bit of disappointment for the Quakers' star. Cofie's time in the 500m fell just three-tenths of a second short of the qualifying time necessary to make the Eastern Championships field.
Despite Cofie's failure in her bid to make Easterns, the Quakers are still confident they can add another top finish to their resume at Heps.
The meet, which kicks off tomorrow, draws all eight Ivy programs plus Navy.
With a competitive field, Ivory, Cofie and Maloney are the most likely to score points at Heps.
While Ivory owns the fourth-best Ivy finish this season in the pentathlon, Cofie has the Ancient Eight's fifth-best time in the 500m.
Maloney ranks fourth-best in the Ivies in the high jump.
-- Lance Stier Penn alum grabs fifth at Olympics Penn alumnus Lincoln DeWitt captured fifth place Wednesday in the men's skeleton at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
DeWitt was ninth after a bad first run, crossing the line in a time of 51.63 seconds, a full .74 seconds off the leader.
In the second run, DeWitt rallied, finishing in 51.20, only .20 off of the leaders. He nabbed fifth place with a combined time of 1:42.83.
He was .67 seconds out of medal contention.
DeWitt graduated from Penn in 1990. A Syracuse, N.Y., native, he moved to Park City, Utah, after completing his undergraduate education at the University.
While a track athlete at Penn, DeWitt specialized in middle-distance events.
Skeleton is a sport where competitors race down headfirst down ice at speeds hovering around 80 miles per hour on a small sled.
The medal winners in the men's skeleton were American Jim Shea, who took the gold, Austrian Martin Rettl, who nabbed silver, and Swiss Gregor Staehli, who took home a bronze medal.
-- Dan McQuade W. Swimming in sixth at Ivy Champs After the first of three days of competition at the Ivy League Swimming Championships, Penn stands in sixth place with 87 points. Brown currently holds the lead at 237.
Kathleen Holthaus headlined early action for Penn yesterday by lowering her own school-record time in the 500 freestyle in 4:56.13. Prior to the meet Holhaus' goal had been to break five-minutes in the event.
Seeded third entering finals, Holthaus finished fifth with a time of 4:57.97.
Katie Stores also grabbed a school record during the morning preliminaries, swimming to an eighth-place seed in the 50 freestyle in 23.72 seconds. The swim broke Penn sophomore Linda Fescoe's one year-old record, set last year at the same meet. Stores finished eighth during finals of the 50 freestyle.
Other point scorers for the Quakers included the 200 freestyle relay, the 400 medley relay, Julia Russack in the 500 freestyle, and Jessica Anders in the 50 freestyle.
Penn did not score in either the 200 individual medley or the the 1 meter diving -- the Quakers are the only squad without a diving representative at the meet.
Penn resumes competition today at 11 a.m. and will wrap up the meet tomorrow.
-- Zach Silver
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