Penn impresses at Raleigh Relays

The Penn women's track team is hoping that last weekend's performance at the 2002 Adidas Raleigh Relays is just the beginning of something good.

With the most crucial meets of the season still to come, the Quakers used the Raleigh Relays as a confidence booster, a warmup and a change to escalate competition level against a field of formidable national competitors.

Before heading to North Carolina, the Red and Blue vowed to focus on their performances alone and to not concern themselves with the blistering times of the nation's top athletes.

The Quakers accomplished just that, and, in the mean time, recorded a slew of personal bests and even broke into the top-twenty in a few events.

"I was very, very pleased with the Raleigh Relays," Penn coach Tony Tenisci said. "When you can focus and do well in a meet like that, it says a lot for your team. I was absolutely thrilled with it."

The Quakers demonstrated their command of the field events -- an area in which the Red and Blue hope to dominate against Ivy League opponents -- over the weekend.

Penn junior Julie Siebert-Johnson finished tenth in the javelin with a toss of 138 feet. In a field of 50, the Holmdel, N. J., native performed strongly and impressively broke into the top-10.

Sophomore Tonia Sabino catapulted herself to the top of Penn's all-time shot put list, bettering her top throw by two feet.

Fellow second-year Grace Maloney broke through in the high jump, placing 13th with a leap of 5'4.5".

"Grace Maloney did an excellent job," Tenisci said. "Her opening jump was the best that she had done leading up to meet. Its very hard to have the bar up that high... but boom, she did it."

Competing in a field of nearly 42, the Red and Blue's pole vaulters excelled. Sophomore Caroline Rebello and rookie Samantha Crook finished tied for the tenth slot. Both jumped 10'8".

"They had to sit around for two or three hours before they jumped," Tenisci said. "They all did fine, they used it as more of a technical day. They were very long days for them."

In many of the jumping events, the Quakers athletes were unable to hit the required distance or height for measurement. In order to speed up the day's events, the Raleigh Relays officials only scored jumps that reached a requisite measurement. In most cases, the standard scores were set so high that the field rapidly dwindled.

"They keep a very high standard number. It's a big participation meet," Tenisci said. "We were all doing very well, but we weren't getting the measurements. Visually we could see it was good, butthey can't give everybody a measurement."

The Penn relay squads recorded solid times. Although the teams did not record high finishes, the Quakers were nonetheless pleased with the performance.

Penn senior Jeraldine Cofie performed well in the 800 meters, an event that she is new in her collegiate career, as she has run the 400 meters for the bulk of her career at Penn.

"The girls know what they have to do and they're proud of their efforts," Tenisci said. "We're feeling very good and we're goign to take that good energy into this weekend. March is over with and now we're really into very serious track and field."

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