Penn Relays: Quakers packing an NCAA-quality punch

It's been over 45 years since the last time an Ivy League college won the prized Distance Medley event at the Penn Relays.

This weekend at the Relays, Penn will be relying on a strong finish from one of its top athletes to try to steal a win. The Quakers are anchored by Tim Kaijala, who will look to replicate his recent exploits on the 800-meter circuit when he heads in for that critical mile - the last leg of the relay.

Kaijala qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the half-mile with a 1:50.30 in poor conditions at the Penn Invitational last month.

Then, he followed that up with a 1:49.75 last week at the Larry Ellis Invitational in Princeton, N.J., to beat the qualifying time by over a half second.

But several other Ivy teams are lurking in the DMR that could end Penn's cause just as easily as a conference foe could.

Princeton currently holds the Heptagonal indoor team championship, and the Tigers' lineup of Michael Maag, Richard Stewart, Kurt Kuehne and David Nightingale already has a pair of individual Heps titles to its name.

Columbia should field a talented team as well, but Penn will have different reasons to watch out.

The Lions' Erison Hurtault and Liam Boylan-Pett each have Heps titles to their names - but Hurtault's is in the 400-meter dash while Boylan-Pett made his own name in the 1,500m.

Watch out

But if Kaijala can help out Penn, it might really show through in the 4x800.

Tabbed as a wide-open race this year, Kaijala brings a proven record in the 800m race to the Quakers.

Oral Roberts and Villanova, which finished this race one-two last year - separated by just three tenths of a second - both return those same lineups to the Relays in 2007.

Other names to look out for are Georgetown (4x800 winners at four of the last ten Relays), Michigan, and, as usual, a host of Southeastern Conference schools, such as LSU.

Other runners sporting the Red and Blue to watch out for include the 4x100m team of Kevin Benjamin, Joey Brown, Sam Shepherd and Grafton Ifill, which is coming off a first-place finish at its last meet. Brown, a Penn defensive back with blow-by speed, has also had success in the sprints this year and could make some noise this weekend.

Better luck next week

However, one of the Red and Blue's best assets will not be available this weekend. Despite sporting two NCAA qualifiers in decathalon - and thus becoming the only school in the nation to do so - Penn's decathletes will be saving their energy for the Heptagonal Championships next week at Princeton and not participate.

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