How teams around Penn Athletics spectrum fared over Fling weekend

It was a busy Fling weekend outdoors for Penn's athletes as men's golf, men's and women's tennis, rowing, and track and field were all in action. Here's all the details from the weekend.

Men’s Golf
In its final weekend of play before the Ivy League Championships, Penn men’s golf finished in 5th place among 15 teams at the Yale Spring Invitational. As a team, the Quakers shot a 300 on the first 18 and a 293 on the second, resulting in an overall score of 33 shots over par.

The University of Tennessee took home the team championship, shooting a 5-over 565 on the day. The rest of the Ivy League finished relatively close to Penn, with Yale coming in 2nd with a 16-over 576, Cornell coming in 4th with a 31-over 591, and Brown coming in 7th with a 40-over 600.

The Red and Blue had to overcome a rough showing in the first 18 holes after finding themselves in 11th at the halfway point. Junior Josh Goldenberg shined the brightest in the first round, shooting a 2-over 72, which was tied for 13th out of 89 golfers. Senior Amay Poria shot well in the second round as well, earning an even par 70, which was the tied for the second best score for that round.

In the end, Goldenberg and Poria tied for seventh among 89 golfers, leading the way for the Quakers to finish in a respectable 5th place overall.

All eyes will now be looking toward the Ivy Championships, which will be hosted at Stonewall Links in Elverson, Pa. from Apr. 20–22. After finishing the season with good results in its past three tournaments, Penn men’s golf will be aiming to knock off the favorites and claim the Ivy title.

Men’s Tennis
Going into the weekend with only one conference loss, Penn men’s tennis (13-10, 2-1 Ivy) was looking to sweep its matches this weekend and take control of the Ivy League. They did just that, beating Brown 4-1 on Friday and Yale 5-2 on Saturday. With the weekend sweep, the Quakers (15-10, 4-1 Ivy) put themselves in a position to win at least a share of the Ivy championship for the first time since 2007.

In their matches against Brown on Friday, Penn singles players dominated to give the Red and Blue the victory. After the No. 1 and 3 doubles teams dropped their sets, Penn went into the singles matches down 1-0. No. 1 singles player Kyle Mautner won a close first set 7-5, then easily picked up the win with a 6-2 second set victory. Seniors Josh Pompan and Nicholai Westergaard and Freshman Noah Makarome all won their matches in straight sets as well to give the Red and Blue the win.

In their final match at their home court, the Penn seniors rose to the occasion to secure the victory against the Bulldogs. Though the doubles teams were unable to win two of their three matches to earn a point, Pompan and Westergaard led the singles players with straight set victories. Makarome and Mautner notched straight-set victories as well before junior Dmitry Shatalin clinched the overall victory with a straight-set win.

The Quakers will travel next weekend for matches against Dartmouth and Harvard. Another weekend sweep would clinch them at least a share of the Ivy title, their first since 2007 and just their 6th overall since 1956.

Women’s Tennis
Facing Brown and Yale this past weekend, Penn women’s tennis was looking for a weekend sweep to try to put itself in contention for the Ivy title. After falling short to Brown on Friday 5-2, the Quakers dominated Yale by a score of 6-1. Still, the weekend split pushes Penn (9-11, 2-3 Ivy) three matches behind both Harvard and Princeton, and with just two matches left, the highest it can aim for is third place on the season.

Despite junior Marta Kowalska’s and freshman Marija Curnic’s ninth victory of the season at No. 3 doubles, Penn dropped the two other doubles matches, giving Brown the coveted doubles point. Kowalska and Curnic continued their impressive form, however this time in the singles matches. These two victories were not enough, though, as no other Quaker was able to earn a victory. Sophomore Ashley Zhu was the closest to winning Penn another point, taking her match all the way to a third set tiebreaker.

Sunday's matches brought along a scoreline that the Quakers have not earned since 2009, beating Yale 6-1. The Red and Blue won the doubles point behind victories from the Kowalska/Curnic duo and OJ Singh’s and Jimena Rodriguez-Benito’s win at No. 3 doubles. After a default on court six and Yale’s only win of the day, it was all Penn until the last ball was bounced. Senior Ria Vaidya, Kowalska, Curnic, and Zhu all won in straight sets to give the Red and Blue the win.

Penn will host Dartmouth and Harvard next weekend in what will be the seniors’ last matches at home in their collegiate career. Though Harvard is undefeated so far in Ivy play, Penn will be looking to repeat its success against the Crimson from the ECAC Championships in February.

Rowing
With three different rowing teams competing in three different competitions this weekend, Penn rowing was expecting success. The women competed at the Knecht Cup in West Windsor, NJ. The men’s heavyweight and lightweight teams both rowed in Leonia, NJ, with the heavyweights participating in the Blackwell Cup and the lightweights in the Marcellus Hartley Dodge Cup.

The women were the big winners, with Varsity 8 and Varsity 4 boats both taking home championships. After winning first place in their heat by less than two seconds, the Varsity 8 blew its opponents out of the water, finishing seven seconds ahead of second place Boston College. The Varsity 4 crew saw similar success, finishing in first place in both their heat and semifinal. In the Grand Final, Penn took home first, beating Boston College by two seconds.

Second Varsity 8 almost made it three championships for the Red and Blue. Though they finished 3rd in their heat, they were fast enough to make it to the Grand Final later in the day. Here, they were narrowly edged by Boston College in a photo finish. Boston College’s time of 6:45.59 barely beat out Penn’s time of 6:45.63. Varsity 4B saw itself in a similar position as the Second Varsity 8. They made their way to the Grand Final after finishing 3rd in their heat. Here, they took home third place, finishing seven seconds behind Temple and Kansas, respectively.

In a meet between three schools - Penn, Yale, and Columbia - the Quakers took 3rd place in two races in the Blackwell Cup. In the Varsity 8 race, Yale was the runaway winner, finishing in 5:53.5. Columbia narrowly took home second place, beating Penn by 1.1 seconds with a time of 6:07.4. Penn’s Second Varsity 8 did not find any more luck in their race. Again, Yale finished in first, this time 15 seconds ahead of second place Columbia and 21 seconds faster than the Quakers.

Competing in the same river, Penn’s lightweight crew also went up against Yale and Columbia. It was just not the Quakers’ day, as they also finished third among the three teams. Though Columbia took home the Varsity 8 race and Yale won the Third Varsity 8 and Fourth Varsity 8 races, Penn was able to snag second place in the Second Varsity 8 race. They finished seven seconds behind winner Columbia and three seconds ahead of Yale.

Both mens’ crew teams will be in action next weekend. The heavyweights will travel to Annapolis to race against Navy and Harvard in the Adams Cup. The lightweights will be hosted by their New Jersey-rivals, taking on Princeton and Georgetown in the Wood-Hammond Cup. The women will take the weekend off to prepare for the Dale England Cup at Indiana University.

Track and Field
Both men's and women's track and field squads faced a busy weekend, with athletes competing in the Tennessee Relays, the Temple Invitational, and the Bison Outdoor Classic at Bucknell University.

In Knoxville, TN, the Quakers saw some impressive runs, highlighted by Freshman Uchechi Nwogwugwu’s third-place finish in the women’s 400m, with a school record time of 53.17. In the women’s 800m, Nia Akins and Mikayla Schneider finished in 4th and 5th place, respectively, with Akins earning the second fastest time in program history with a 2:06.74. Sophomore Breanne Bygrave, found herself in the top-10 in both the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles while Taylor McCorkle finished tenth in the 100m. Penn’s 4x400m relay was good for fourth place with a time of 3:37.77.

In the field, Penn earned a second-place finish by Ashley Anumba in the discus throw with a score of 52.41m. The Red and Blue also earned a fifth-place finish in the high jump as Anna Payton Malizia finished at 1.70 m.

For the men, Calvary Rogers tied a program record in the 200m with a time of 20.90, which was good for tied for 5th place. Freshman Marvin Morgan earned tenth place in the 100m. The Quakers found even more success in the field. Evan Lee won second place in the decathlon, winning three of the ten events. Lance Yassay tied for third place in the high jump with a height of 2.12m. Also, Cristian Constantin finished in 5th place in the triple jump with a jumo of 15.51m.

At the Temple Invitational, Penn track and field performed exceptionally well. The mens’ field members placed first in four events, second in four events, and third in three events. Senior Ian Kirk earned first place in the high jump with a height of 1.99m. Senior Michael Benz won the pole vault with a height of 4.70m, good for first place. Freshman Chudi Ikpeazu won first in the shot put with a toss of 15.89m, and senior Sean Ryan won first in the hammer throw with a distance of 58.83m.

The women were equally impressive; their field athletes placed first in four events, second in three events, and third in one event. Sophomore Katherine Schroeder earned first place in the pole vault with a height of 3.80m. Senior Devinne Miller took home first place honors in the long jump with a distance of 5.48m. The lady Quakers swept the shot put category, with sophomore Maura Kimmel edging out her teammates with a toss of 15.55m. Kimmel also won the discus throw, with a distance of 53.82m.

Out of seven teams, Penn women's track and field won second place behind Temple University. On the men' side, the Quakers also earned second place out of seven teams. Villanova won first place.

Penn’s distance runners took to the track at Bucknell. In the 3000m steeplechase, Colin Daly stood out with a third place finish in a time of 8:57.23. Colin's twin brother Will Daly finished just a second behind his brother.

Both men's and women's track and field will be in action next week at the Larry Ellis Invitational hosted by Princeton University. A week after that will be the Penn Relays at Franklin Field.