Freshman hurdler Sarah Dumas places first in the women's 400m hurdle at the Penn Challenge on March 22.
Credit: Kenny ChenThe wind wasn’t the only thing blowing past the competition this Saturday at Franklin Field, as the Quakers kicked off their outdoor season with a whirlwind of wins and personal records at the Penn Challenge.
The Quakers began the meet with strong performances from junior thrower Angeludi Asaah and freshman thrower Elias Chase. Asaah — who ranks third in the NCAA and first in the East region — performed a personal best of 56.52 meters in the women’s discus throw, the start of many first-place titles to follow for the Red and Blue. In his collegiate debut, Chase joined with a mark of 57.41m in the men’s javelin throw for another first-place finish.
“It was really important to me that I opened really well in discus, especially because I had a slow start to [the] indoor [season], and I really didn't want that to be the case for outdoor. So I'm really happy with my performance,” Asaah said.
Wrapping up the field events for the Quakers, senior jumper Benedikt Sachta won the pole vault with a mark of 5.03m. Later, the Red and Blue saw success in the women’s pole vault as well with a win from senior jumper Kai Eisenhardt who jumped 3.88m.
“I want to win the individual title for myself. I think it's definitely very possible. I got second indoors and just missed out on the gold medal by an attempt, so I’m looking forward to that,” Sachta says, reflecting on his goals for the rest of the outdoor season.
Penn started off strong in the first track event of the meet — finishing first in the women’s 4x100-meter relay with a time of 47.04 seconds. In the next event, the Quaker dominance continued with a 4:30.28 first-place finish in the 1500m from freshman distance runner Quin Stovall and a third-place finish and new personal record from senior distance runner Katie Pou.
With a fresh win on her back, Stovall is excited for the competition to come so she might achieve some of her many goals.
“The Raleigh Relays [are] next weekend. I'm so hyped. So we get to go to North Carolina [and] do an 815 double,” she said. “And then I'd love to make it to [the Heptagonal Championships] and race at Heps … in May. So I'm really excited about just [the] steep competition there.”
Another personal record came from junior distance runner Nicolas Pizarro who finished first in the men’s 1500m with a time of 3:51.57 seconds. Pizarro was followed by two more Quakers placing third and fourth.
Penn performed strong in three hurdle events as well. In the women’s 100m hurdles, freshman sprinter/hurdler Chikaodinaka Akazi finished first in 13.98 seconds — a new personal best. Despite a slow start to his week, junior multi-event specialist Jake Rose followed with another win in the men’s 110m hurdles with a personal record of 14.04 seconds, which now has him tied for the fourth fastest time in program history. In the women’s 400m hurdles, freshman multi-event specialist Sarah Dumas crossed the line first for the Quakers running a 1:02.09 race.
“I was sick all week, so I wasn't really able to get the right training in,” Rose admitted. “So I was coming into this week hoping just to break the ice and get ready for [the] outdoor [season and] ended up having a good race in the hurdles and … a half decent throw in the discus.”
In the women’s 400m dash, the Red and Blue swept the podium with senior sprinter Jocelyn Niemiec, junior sprinter Christiana Nwachuku, and sophomore jumper and sprinter Simone Castelluccio finishing in first, second, and third, respectively.
Niemiec ran three events on Saturday, the 4x100, the 400m dash — a last minute addition — and the 200m dash, which is more than she usually competes on an average race day.
“I knew that I kind of had to take every event one at a time, because if you start the day by thinking about your last event you're just gonna get frazzled.” Niemiec said.
The men saw success in the 400m as well with a first place 47.72-second finish from sophomore sprinter/hurdler star Ryan Matulonis.
“I feel like starting off on a good race is really important for the trajectory this season,” Matulonis said. “So I was happy to be able to go out there and run a good race. … [The] time is exactly where I wanted to be.”
In the men’s 800m, freshman distance runner Benjamin Markham snagged first place and set a personal record of 1:51.19, with his teammates senior distance runner Edwin Klanke and junior distance runner Liam Going followed placing 2nd and 4th respectively.
Penn colored yet another podium red and blue in the women’s 3000m. Senior distance runner Nora Wollen finished first with a time of 9:53.20, senior distance runner Anastasia Russell followed next with a personal best of 9:54.75, and sophomore distance runner Sarah Fischer closed out the podium in third with a time of 9:55.78.
A Penn win in the last event of the meet, the men’s 4x400, closed out the Quakers' successes for the day.
Next weekend, Penn men's and women's track and field will compete in two meets: the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N.C. and the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla.
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