The University of Pennsylvania’s men’s and women’s track and field teams began the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships at The Armory in New York with several record-breaking performances.
Fore Abinusawa set a new all-time Ivy League record in the women’s 60-meter dash, clocking 7.22 seconds during the preliminaries. She also broke her own school record in the 200 meters with a time of 23.48 seconds, securing first place in the prelims.
Yuliya Maslouskaya earned Penn’s first gold medal in the women’s pentathlon since 2007 by scoring 4,166 points, which set a new meet record. “Maslouskaya recorded personal-best marks in four of five events, finishing second in the 800m (2:13.95), high jump (1.72m (5′ 7.75″)), and long jump (5.94m (19′ 6″)),” according to event organizers.
Amelia Kristen finished second overall with 4,155 points, winning both the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.59 seconds and the 800 meters at 2:12.21. Kristen also took fourth place in the individual long jump event with a distance of 6.07 meters.
In men’s competition, Shane Gardner broke the meet record for the 60-meter hurdles by finishing first at 7.73 seconds during preliminaries; Ryan Matulonis placed fifth at 7.97 seconds and will advance to Sunday’s finals.
Lily Murphy set a program record for Penn in the women’s 3,000 meters by finishing third with a time of 9:11.67.
First-year athlete Thomas Bucks won his first Ivy League Heps title by clearing a personal best height of 5.20 meters in men’s pole vault; Alex Georgiev placed third with his season-best mark of 4.95 meters.
In other podium finishes, Stella Inman secured silver in women’s weight throw after recording an opening round mark of 19.60 meters, while Evangeline Thomson tied for sixth place in women’s pole vault by clearing a height of 3.83 meters.
Jake Rose is currently second overall after four events in men’s heptathlon with a total score of 3,113 points; he placed first among competitors in three out of four disciplines completed so far.
The final day of competition is scheduled to begin at The Armory on Sunday at 11:00 a.m., where team standings show Penn’s men and women both holding second place after day one—men with sixteen points from four events and women tallying thirty-six-and-a-half points from five events.
