Penn women's track coach Gwen Harris didn't even know that she had seven first-place finishes.
"Really?" she said. "Wow. I knew we did well but . wow, great."
It might have been just too many to count as the Penn women scored 81 points at Princeton on Saturday, coming in first and beating track powerhouses Princeton and Yale.
"We did a good job yesterday," Harris said. "I knew it was going to be tough with the people we were missing. For the freshmen, I don't think they understood how big the meet was with Princeton and Yale, but I explained it to them, and they went out and did what they needed to do."
On the same day, the men's team found similar success in their events held at Franklin Field, taking first in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and dominating many of the field events.
And young blood seemed to be the order of the day - both coaches were extremely pleased with their freshmen and sophomore athletes.
"We gave some of our youngsters a shot in running some other events and they did well," coach Charlie Powell of Penn's men's team said, referring to freshmen Tarik Aougab and Kevin Sullivan among others.
On the women's side, besides the usual point scorers of juniors Jesse Carlin, Claire Kim and Stacy Kim, the Quakers also had spectacular field finishes. Sophomore Kathleen Librizzi took first place in the javelin throw with a mark of 39.20 meters, and Camille Richard, also a sophomore, had first-place efforts in the triple and long jump.
"I was very impressed with our sophomores," Harris said. "The field events were great and our jumpers did an excellent job."
The weather made for an excellent day for sprinters, as sophomore Joey Brown and senior Grafton Ifill took their events in the 100 and 200m, respectively.
The untouchable Tim Kaijala also put on an exciting 1500m run, coming from behind in the last leg to beat three Villanova runners in 3:49.30.
"I was getting nervous at the start," Kaijala, a junior, said. "Just because they went out really fast though . I think that hurt them in the end."
With the Penn Relays and the Heptagonal Championships on everyone's minds, the Quakers are one step closer in their physical and mental preparation, especially with Saturday's successes.
Kaijala certainly thought so: "I think this was a good day for us, a lot of guys looked really good."
"It looks like we're coming around in a lot of different areas," Powell commented. "We all came in here to do different things, and we wanted to accomplish something, and I think we were successful."
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.
