Running off to State College

Women’s track coach Gwen Harris is looking to the past to aid her team’s future.

“Each time we have a meet,” she explained, “we look at where we were this time last year, or two years ago, and see how well we fared this time.”

Therefore, the Quakers will be aiming high in the first meet of the new year at Penn State Saturday.

The distance medley relay team will hope to extend their history of success at the competition. Penn won the event two years ago with a record-breaking time of 11:32.61, while their second-place finish in 2009 was enough to qualify for a place in the ECAC Championships.

Additionally, upperclassmen Laura McDaniel and Kali Strother will look to better their near-misses in making the ECAC standard in the 500 and 200 meters respectively.

Coupled with some strong team performances last semester, including a first and second place for cross country in September, Harris was confident about the Quakers’ chances for the weekend.

“We got a pretty good indication of where we are and what we need to do and how to do it,” she said.

While the 2010 Heptagonals are looming in the distance for the Quakers, Coach Harris emphasized that her team is focused on contests nearer in the future.

“Right now, we’re really concentrating on indoors,” she remarked.

This will be a challenge for several new faces on the team — hailing from the warmer climates of California, some have never competed indoors before.

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