?The Quakers welcome 18 newcomers from 12 states. Eleven of the 17 are middle distance or distance runners while the rest consist of three jumpers, a thrower, a hurdler, a multi-specialist.
?Key losses for Penn include Grafton Ifill C'07, a two-time Heps champion and member of the Quakers' 2007 4x100 outdoor relay team. Fellow sprinter Cody Schovitz C'07 also graduated in 2007. Also graduated is Ian Foley W'07, a 2006-07 captain and outstanding cross country and distance athlete.
?The Quakers will be captained by three of last year's captains?Heptagonal champions Tim Kaijala and Kyle Calvo as well as CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree Mike Hall.
?Returning to help the cross country effort is Brian Goldberg who led the team in five of six races last season. Larry Contrella, Brian Trembley and Reid McEwen were all top-five varsity letterwinners.
?In sprints, senior Andrew Anderson and juniors Kevin Benjamin, Joey Brown and Sam Shepherd will lead the charge and look to score points for the Quakers both individually and in relays.
?All but one member of Penn's 2007 Outdoor Heps 4x100 relay champion team (Benjamin, Brown, Shepherd, Ifill) returns for the 2007-08 season.
?Brown earned second-team honors in the indoor 60, outdoor 100. He also ran the second leg of Penn's outdoor 4x100 Heps champion relay team.
?Kaijala won three Heptagonal crowns last season and will be a favorite among the Ivy League middle distance runners.
?In jumps, John Carelli made waves as a freshman in 2006-07. His personal best of 14.93m (48-11.75) in the triple jump was good for ninth on Penn's outdoor top 10 list. He got his name on the indoor list with a mark of 14.79m to tie for 10th.
?Calvo will lead the Quakers in the jumps while Pete Habegger will provide depth.
?Calvo made his third NCAA Championship appearance in 2007. His season-best 7,243 points in the decathlon was the 17th highest score in the country and qualified him for the Championships in Sacramento, Calif. The junior finished 16th overall with 7,134 points.
?Anthony Abitante cleared 5.05m last season in the pole vault, landing the sixth-best mark in Penn's records and earning second-team All-Ivy honors at indoor Heps.
?Junior Andrew McMillen will hope to continue to improve in the field events after qualifying for the outdoor IC4A in the shot put. He scored in the shot put at Indoor and Outdoor Heps.
?After winning the 4x800 Indoor Heps relay last season and setting a new track record at the Armory in New York City, John Guzman, Kevin Kiley, Bryan Scotland and Kaijala all return to defend their title at Cornell's Barton Hall.
?Penn's 4x100 relay team won Outdoor Heps a year ago and hope to repeat in 2008 when Yale hosts. Meanwhile, the 4x400 relay team will look to move up a spot from its second-place finish in 2007.
?The 114th running of the Penn Relays will take place at Franklin Field, April 24-26.
