Trackwomen 'outstanding' at Penn

Penn State women's track coach Teri Jordan didn't expect the performance she got from her team at Saturday's meet at the University of Pennsylvania. After a week of tough training, she merely expected her team to continue its steady progression.

"We worked really hard this week and we really weren't expecting top-flight performances," she said.

Taking first in sprints were Donna Comrie in the 100 meters, Laila Brock in the 200 and Erica Bosler in the 400.

In other events, Shakeema Walker won the triple jump, Jen Pastore won the javelin, Kim Hicks won the shotput and Julie Schott won the discus.

Jordan was happy with her team's effort, not only in light of the team's training schedule, but because the adverse weather could have easily put a damper on the day's meet.

"I'm pleased with the overall team effort, attitudes as well as their performance," she said. "It was a rainy day, and the women were slipping a lot. It's hard to jump 45 feet when you're slipping and it's hard to wait to run in the rain."

The rain, cold and wind could have dampened Penn State's spirits, but it found a way to remain enthusiastic. At the end of the track competitions, the team wandered over to the discus competitions to support the last event of the day -- the discus throw. Brock said it was this type of attitude that kept the team upbeat.

"We had a lot of team unity," she said. "I think that we competed well under the conditions."

Brock added this week's meet at the University of North Carolina will demand a higher level of performance.

"Last week we had a tough week of workouts, this week we're going to taper off," she said. "We need to be a lot better for next week."

Everything considered, Jordan said the Penn Invitational was a successful progression to this weekend's meet, which will be one of Penn State's most competitive matchups of the season.

"It was an outstanding meet," Jordan said, "and it was a good building meet as well, which was what we intended it to be."