W. Track blows past Ivy foes in home tri-meet

(Penn - 75, Princeton - 64, Yale - 63)

The Penn's women track team walked off the track after Saturday's tri-meet with a convincing victory.

And coach Tony Tenisci exited Franklin Field sopping wet.

Capturing an astounding 29 personal bests, Penn scored 75 points to defeat Princeton (64 points) and Yale (63 points) in the Quakers' second-straight impressive performance of the outdoor season.

As for Tenisci, Penn's head man got into the festivities, as he had the water jug dumped on him for the first time in his coaching career.

"The kids were so happy with all they accomplished that they doused me with a bucket of water," Tenisci said. "Either I end up in the steeplechase pit or with a bucket of water dumped on my head.

"Either way, it's great."

Led by the field athletes, Penn jumped out to an early lead grabbing six top-place finishes. The Quakers also managed to secure two second-place finishes.

"Overall, this was a great performance," Penn senior runner Petra Stewart said. "The field events definitely pulled more weight than the running events, but the team as a whole did very well."

Sophomore Tonia Sabino set the tone for the Quakers on the field. Sabino won the shot put, placed second in the hammer throw, and finished the day with a third-place showing in the discus throw. She three personal records on the day.

Other individual triumphs included Mikaelyn Austin's win in the discus throw, Meghan Moran's triple-jump, Katie Shannon's first-place hammer throw, and Julie Siebert-Johnson's victory in the javelin.

"We dominated every single field event," Tenisci said. "Each event was one with very, very good performances."

While Tenisci was excited by his team's effort, he couldn't help but praise Austin -- also a member of the Penn women's basketball team -- individually.

"If she plays basketball like she throws the discus, then she is awesome," Tenisci said.

Penn received pivotal performances both on the track and the field to help preserve the lead built by its six first-place finishes.

Grace Maloney and Caroline Rebello barely missed out on first-place efforts in the field, both finishing second in the high jump and pole-vault alike.

Michelle Hart and Kai Ivory led the charge on the track, finishing one-two in the 100 meter hurdles.

Feeding off the positive tone set by Hart and Ivory, the Quakers went on to post other solid finishes.

Erin Rhoades and Jeraldine Cofie both had top-three placements in their events, while Petra Stewart finished second in the 400m run.

"We had 29 personal best overall," Tenisci said. 'The girls really wanted to do well and they did." One of the Quakers' primary worries heading into the meet was that their small roster would plague them in a sudden-death scoring format. But Penn's fears were not realized as it was able to stave off injury and exhaustion to outlast its league foes.

"The way everyone came together, we really looked like we have the chance to be a championship team," Tenisci said. "Every girl stepped up and every girl worked hard and it paid off."

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