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The Penn Relays

April 30, 2014 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

This weekend The University of Pennsylvania hosted the 120th annual track and field carnival, The Penn Relays. The Penn relays are series of local, national ,and international track and field events that take place over a three day period at Penn’s Franklin Field.

The stands of Franklin field were pack with fans. There were Jamaican high school and professional athletes competing in the event, and their were many cheering fans sporting Jamaican colors green and yellow.

All kinds of athletes compete in this track meet. From local high school runners to world class olympians. Many of the events are relay races, such as the 4×100 meters, 4×200 meters, 4×400 meters, 4×800 meters, 4x one mile and sprint and distance medley relays. There are also individual races, and field events such as pole vault, triple jump, long jump, high jump discus, shot put and javelin.

Many famous athletes have competed in the Penn Relays, such as Usain Bolt and Allyson Felix. The 2014 Penn Relays marked the fiftieth anniversary of Jamaican High schools competing in the Relays, they have been competing their since.

History was made at the 2014 Penn Relays. Many meet records were broken. The University of Texas broke the Penn Relays college women’s 4×400 meter record with a time of 3:25.05. Keturah Orji broke the women’s triple jump record with a 43-10.5. Andrew Hunter broke the Penn Relays and U.S. high school sophomore record in the 3,000 meters in 8:16.31, and Thomas Awad ran a 3:58.34 in the men’s Olympic Development Mile, making him the second student from University of Penn to run a sub four minute mile.

High schools and colleges from all over competed in the relays. During the fiftieth anniversary of Jamaican high schools first competing, four Jamaican high schools won relay events, Jamaica college in the boys 4×100 in 39.72, St. Jago in the boys 4×400 in 3:11.73, Calabar in the boys 4×800 in 7:37.36, and Edwin Allen in the girls 4×100 in 44.70 and in the girls 4×400 in 3:34.76. The University of Oregon mens team, one of the U.S’s best college running teams won both the 4xmile in 16:09.67 and the distance medley relay in 9:25.40.

Local schools from Pennsylvania also did well. Villanova won four relay events, the women’s 4×800 in 8:21.49, the women’s 4×1500 in 17:16.52, the women’s distance medley relay in 10:57.35, and the men’s 4×800 in 7:16.58. Local high schools also did well, West Chester Henderson won the high school boys distance medley relay in 10:03.77.

The Penn Relays also feature international competition in the U.S.A vs. the World Relays. The U.S.A won four of the six events, the men’s 4×100 in 38.57, the men’s distance medley relay in 9:28.27, the women’s 4×400 in 3:25.62, and the women’s sprint medley relay in 3:27.94.

The Penn Relays is a big exciting track meet, where athletes from around the world compete. It is also an historic event of The University of Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia.

Link to Penn Relays results and information

Franklin field, courtesy of runnerspace.com

Hallway Fashion – Soledad Alfaro-Allah (Sophomore)

April 28, 2014 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Interview by Kennedy Coverdale ( Staff Writer )

What are you wearing today, and where is it from ?
I’m wearing a lace shirt thats from Buffalo Exchange, cargo pants from Marshalls, black cardigan from Old Navy, a crystal necklace that was given to me as a gift, and my Mary Jane Doc Martens that I got for Christmas.
What are your favorite brands/stores?
Anything that fits me and won’t wreck the bank. But I do like Adidas.
What does fashion mean to you?
Fashion is an expression of who you are and how you carry yourself. Like you can tell someone’s mood from the way that they’re dressing.
Where do you get your fashion inspiration from ?
My closet.
If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be ?
It would be like Lupita’s dress from the Oscars. It looked really nice and comfortable.

Locker Talk: If you could unblock one website at school, what would it be?

April 28, 2014 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

DeviantArt, because I draw and like the art community there.

What firewall?!? But YouTube should be unblocked as a whole.

Flyers Down…..But Not Out- Sports Talk With the Straight Shuter

April 28, 2014 by lpahomov 1 Comment

Flyers Down…..But Not Out- Sports Talk With the Straight Shuter

by Jesse Shuter

Staff Writer

Photo courtest of http://www.greatermediaphiladelphia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/975-the-fanatic-home-of-the-flyers-1170×600-1170×450.jpg

The Philadelphia Flyers have been battling the New York Rangers in the playoffs for a total of five games now in the first round of the 2014 NHL Playoffs. After the game sunday, the Rangers lead the series 3-2. That means that the Flyers will be once again trying to tie the series at home on tuesday the 29th of April.

The Flyers are in a bad situation because, had they won on sunday, they could win the series at home. Now the best case scenario is that they win at home on tuesday. Then they would have to win in New York, which they have only done once in the last eleven attempts, for them to win the series.

The Flyers biggest issues in the past, have been defense and goaltending. The interesting thing is that these are not their problems this time around. In fact one could argue that there goalie and defense situation is as good as it has been all season long. The issue is their offense. The Flyers get a lot of scoring chances that they fail to convert on. Some chances are even easy shots that players should be able to make, and stupid mistakes cost them the goal, and therefore them game.

Recently, many people have said that thing that the flyers are lacking is another all star forward. Many teams have there one-two punch of two incredible players that make their teams phenomenal. The Pittsburgh Penguins, for example, have Sidney Crosby (booooo) and Evgeni Malkin (booooo). The Chicago Blackhawks have Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. The Flyers have Claude Giroux and………..who else?

With forwards like Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, Scott Hartnell, Wayne Simmonds, Vincent Lecavlier, etc. the Flyer have a pretty stacked core of forwards. But I agree that they need there star. The Flyer like to pass the puck. They like to pass the puck a lot, and sometimes that’s great, it sets them up for a goal. Other times, they pass and pass and no one scores and they lose. If they had an Alex Ovechkin, or Steve Stamkos, someone that they can get the puck to and trust them to fire the shot for a goal. That would be a Stanley Cup championship team. So now I have good news and bad news for Flyers fans. Bad news first, I don’t see a Steve Stamkos in our immediate future. The good news, the Flyers are still a Stanley Cup Caliber team without one.

Anyone that watches the Flyers will agree with me that lately the Flyers have been playing there best when they are down. That’s great, that means I am very confident we can win at home one tuesday. The Flyers then need to figure out how to translate that fighting power they get when they are desperate to a game where they are not in fact desperate for points. If they can do that, they can win it all.

Wolves and Society

April 22, 2014 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Claudia Bonitatibus Staff Writer

In 1973, the Endangered Species Act (ESA), was passed by Congress, and the grey wolves gained federal protection. The goal of this act was to protect and restore threatened and endangered species. The ESA protects both endangered plants and animals. In October 2009 1,361 plants and animals were listed as threatened or endangered in the US.

However, recently there has been controversy over the decision as to whether the grey wolf should still be considered an endangered species or whether it has rebounded sufficiently enough to survive without protection from the ESA. Earlier this year the grey wolves were delisted from the Endangered Species Act. However, there are many environmental groups with complaints

Before the Europeans arrived and started hunting and killing grey wolves there were approximately 2 million wolves in North America. Today, besides those in Alaska, there are only 6,100 wolves in North America. However, counting the number of wolves does not tell us how healthy a population actually is. Wolves have a complex family structure, but stressful conditions lead to a breakdown in wolf communities and although the numbers may look good on paper these animals can’t survive long-term under threat of hunting.

Wolf population has been restored to 10 states, but environmentalists argue that their range should be increased but not necessarily to their previous status. Considering their unpopularity among ranchers it is not surprising that in Wyoming wolves are feared more than in any other state. The Wyoming law treats wolves like coyotes. In the “free fire zone” which comprises 85 percent of the land they can both be shot even if they weren’t bothering livestock. Coyotes can recover from this kind of thinning, but not wolves.

Today’s overpopulation of deer and resultant tick-borne Lyme disease is a direct result of the decline of natural predators. The predators were killed because ranchers felt their livestock were threatened, as with cougars, or they were poached for their desirable pelts. For the wolves it was both of these reasons. Environmentalists offer statistics showing that since the reintroduction of the grey wolf to Yellowstone National Park less sheep were killed on ranches, not more as the ranchers had expected. This is attributed to the fact that wolves are the only effective form of coyote control.

All of this shows that the wolves being delisted would cause conflict. Even though farmers find them a threat, we cannot ignore the simple fact that wolves’ safety is essential to the health of our environment. It is important that everyone is aware of how they benefit nature and society and what would happen if they were to disappear.