Sports Briefs

W. Track takes fourth at Army Invitational On Jan. 18, the Penn women's track and field team squared off against difficult competition at the Army Invitational at West Point. The Quakers came in fourth place with 112.5 points. Penn finished behind first-place Army (168), the University of Connecticut (165.5), and Saint John's (130). Despite the fourth-place finish, the Quakers had some strong individual performances. In the distance events, freshman Christine Myers and sophomore Kim Milans took second and third respectively in the 1000m run, with times of 3.05.71 and 3:06.99. In the mile, senior Kristen Koch's time of 5:23.68 earned fourth place. For the sprinters, sophomore Natalie Jackson finished second in the 500m in 1:20.78, while sophomore Izukanne Emeagwali placed in two events, fifth in the 55m dash in 7.53 and sixth in the 200m dash in 26.83. "Overall, this meet was a good indicator of where our fitness level lies," Jackson said. And from here we can reassess our individual goals and the areas we need to improve on." The field events were highlighted by the second-place finishes of junior Grace Maloney's 1.63m high jump and freshman Charity Payne's 13.06m shotput throw. "We had a good start and some people had good performances," Penn coach Gwen Harris said. "As we go on and get closer to [the Heptagonal Championships], we should do a better job." Penn will next compete in the Terrier Classic on Jan. 24. -- Ange Wang

W. Fencing ranked No. 10 in nation The Penn women's fencing team is starting the season with some pretty high expectations, as it was ranked tenth nationally by the United States Fencing Association. The poll was released Jan. 16. The Quakers have reason to think they can live up to that lofty preseason mark, as they return 13 letter winners from a team that finished second at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships a year ago. Headlining the returning starters are senior co-captains Kimberly Linton and Lauren Staudinger. Linton -- in addition to being named academic All-Ivy -- went 37-17 last season. She ended up placing 17th at the NCAA Championships and fifth in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in the epee. Staudinger finished the season with a record of 39-13 and was 20th at the NCAA Championships in the foil. She also placed third in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals. Overall, the Quakers finished 13-6 last season and in third place in the Ivy League, behind champion Columbia and Yale. Penn begins the 29th season of coach Dave Micahnik's tenure on Jan. 25 at the Penn State Multi-Meet. While they have not yet competed as a team, several Quakers did start their season individually at the Temple Open. Freshman Jean Goto took first place in the epee and three other Quakers finished in the top six at the event. -- Andrew DeLaney

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