W. Track has final meet before Heps

According to its runners, the Penn women's track team just has a competitive practice on the schedule this weekend. "Our coach always tells us that a meet is just a practice with more people," Quakers' sophomore Rachel Dailey said. "We practice really hard," she added. "We need to put in that much effort this weekend." Try 5,000 more people. The team anticipates this weekend's meet -- the Armory Invitational in New York City -- to be extremely crowded, with possibly as many as 5,000 runners and 4,000 spectators in the stadium. This will be the final chance for Penn to compete before the Heptagonal Championships. "This is our first year going to this meet," Penn junior Emily Logan said. "It should be a good meet -- the Armory has a fast track and there will be a lot of good teams that we haven't competed against yet." The Quakers will also see several teams that they have encountered already this season. They have the chance to outperform St. John's and Connecticut College -- two teams Penn raced against in a quad-meet with Navy in January. The Quakers will face these teams in mostly relay events, having entered very few people in individual events. "Everyone will be fresh since there are so few individual events," Logan said. "It's a great chance for the relay teams to prepare for Heps and to qualify for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference." Among the few Quakers who are competing individually are Rachel Dailey and Petra Stewart, who will be running the 400-meter dash. Izu Emeagwali will comepete in the 200-meter dash. "I'd really like to run my 400 in 59 seconds or less," Dailey said. "I've been somewhat happy with past races but there's always room for improvement." The field events will be missing top pole vaulter Sam Crook this weekend. The Quakers stated their hope to reach their goal of earning an overall score of at least 60 points despite her absence. Logan expects that the crowded field, combined with the Armory's celebrated fast track, will be a great environment for Penn to gain confidence before Heps.

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