PHILADELPHIA – Behind the University of Pennsylvania women's track & field program's recent Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championship, the James P. Tuppeny/Betty J. Costanza Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Steve Dolan was unanimously named Ivy League Women's Coach of the Year, the league announced on Tuesday, along with a bevy of other individual awards.
The honor is Dolan's fourth of the kind, having garnered the distinction unanimously as the 2016 Ivy League Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year and also in both the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2018.
Along with Dolan's nod, six Quakers were named first-team All-Ivy honorees, in addition to the 4x440 yard relay team of Elena Brown-Soler, Skyla Wilson, Cecil Ene and Uchechi Nwogwugwu and 4x880 yard relay quartet of Caroline O'Sullivan, Katie DeVore, Melissa Tanaka and Nia Akins.
Penn, en route to capturing the Heps championship for the second consecutive season, won eight events on the weekend, the most in the program's history, including the two relay squads. Ene won the 200m and Tanaka captured the 800m, becoming the first Quaker women to win those events since 2008, and Akins won the 1000m in Ivy League record-breaking time to join that pair on the first team. In field events, Anna Peyton Malizia in the high jump and Rachel Lee Wilson in the weight throw earned first-team distinction for the second straight year, along with Maura Kimmel in the shot put.
Four more Quakers scored runner-up finishes as well to earn second-team All-Ivy honors. Ene capped her outstanding weekend with a second-place finish in the 400m and Nwogwugwu added a runner-up in the 500m to her weekend's results. Maddie Villalba performed well in the mile, coming home in second and freshman Mayyi Mahama completed the sweep of the top-two spots in the weight throw behind Wilson.
Akins will compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships in two weeks in Birmingham, Ala. in the 800m, but the rest of the squad will enjoy a month of training and rest before the Penn Challenge opens the outdoor schedule on Saturday, March 23 at Franklin Field.
Ivy League Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year
Steve Dolan*
*unanimous selection
First-Team All-Ivy
Cecil Ene – 200m
Melissa Tanaka – 800m
Nia Akins – 1000m
Anna Peyton Malizia – High Jump
Maura Kimmel – Shot Put
Rachel Lee Wilson – Weight Throw
Elena Brown-Soler, Skyla Wilson, Cecil Ene and Uchechi Nwogwugwu – 4x400 yard relay
Caroline O'Sullivan, Katie DeVore, Melissa Tanaka and Nia Akins – 4x880 yard relay
Second-Team All-Ivy
Cecil Ene – 400m
Uchechi Nwogwugwu – 500m
Maddie Villalba – Mile
Mayyi Mahama – Weight Throw
#FightOnPenn
