M. Track opens outdoor season strong

The Penn men's track team had a great day at Sunday's Quaker Invitational.

Penn junior discuss thrower Justin King did not.

Although King won his event with a toss of 47.32 meters, that was about all that went his way.

"We sat around all day and didn't get to throw until six at night," King said. "Then after waiting in the cold for hours, we only got two throws before it was too dark and the judges couldn't see.

"There wasn't even a final."

Adding to his sorrows were his freshly dampened sweatshirt and equipment bag -- wet after a dog relieved himself on the fence adjacent to them.

"It was a rough afternoon," he said.

Despite King's lumps, the invite was a success for Penn, as six individuals and one team won their respective events in the first outdoor competition of the year.

Penn junior Brian Abram, who usually runs the 400 meter dash, instead raced in the 800, capturing it nonetheless in a time of 1:55.35.

Fellow junior Sam Burley also switched places, running the 1500 instead of the 800. The transition, however, was seamless -- Burley won in 3:51.83.

"I wasn't displeased with my time," Burley said about his first-ever 1500. "We've been doing a lot of strength work lately so I thought I had a decent 1500 in me."

Other first place finishers for the Red and Blue included sophomore Matt Wedge in the 110 hurdles, sophomore Brian Chaput in the javeline and senior Tuan Wreh in the triple jump. The 4x100 relay team also took first place.

Penn sophomore Luqman Kolade placed second in the 400 high hurdles with a time of 54.36 seconds, while senior Gene Sun finished third in the 100 meter dash at 10.99 seconds.

Sun was itching to compete after missing most of the indoor season with a tweaked hamstring.

"It wasn't a super race," Sun said. "But it was good coming off an injury."

Despite the early success, the Quakers were not overly enthusiastic about their performance amidst a less-than-menacing field of opponents.

Division III College of New Jersey and New Haven College were two of Penn's 12 foes.

It was Penn's city rivals -- St. Joe's, La Salle and Villanova -- that proved to be the Quakers' only real threats.

"In the throws, 'Nova brought a couple of good guys," King said. "It was nice to have them there for some competition."

A competition, that is, in which the Quakers didn't perform their best.

Yet Penn is quick to write off its slower finishes to an extended layoff rather than an indication of weakness.

"For the most part, we were pretty pleased," Sun said. "There were a lot of bad times, but that's because we were really rusty.

"They weren't great times, but we still raced well."

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