The long-awaited, long-promised, long-planned new indoor track at the University of Pennsylvania is finally open for business.
Some 47 high school and college meets are scheduled for the $70 million Jane and David Ott Center, located between Amtrak’s northeast corridor tracks and the Schuykill Expressway and just south of South Street.
If you’ve ever watched the Penn Relays javelin, the facility is just north of Rhodes Field, where Penn’s men’s and women’s soccer used to play before moving to Penns Park. You can see it clearly from South Street just east of Franklin Field or from I-76 heading east toward the sports complex.
The facility has a banked 200-meter track, room for over 1,000 spectators and best of all it’s not in Toms River.
The Ott opens soon – the first meet is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 6, and that will be Day 1 of the Penn Opener, a college meet. The first high school meet will be a Pennsylvania meet on Dec. 12, and South Jersey takes over the Ott on Saturday, Dec. 14, with a South Jersey Track Coaches Association meet.
We don’t have official times for these meets yet, but it looks like most of the SJTCA meets will be 8 a.m. starts.
The Ott will be very easy to get to. There’s a ton of street parking available at that hour on Walnut and there is also the Penns Park lot, which is a 10-minute walk through Penn’s athletic fields and over a foot bridge. The University City SEPTA station is a five-minute walk away and 30th Street Station is maybe 20 minutes away.
As we get more details on start times for these meets I’ll update the list below! See you there!
** Friday, Dec. 6 – Penn Opener, Day 1
** Saturday, Dec. 7 – Penn Opener, Day 2
*Thursday, Dec. 12 – PPL Indoor #1
*Saturday, Dec. 14 – SJTCA #2, 8 p.m.
*Thursday, Dec. 19 – PPL Indoor #2
*Saturday, Dec. 21 – SJTCA #4, 8 p.m.
*Saturday, Dec. 28 – SJTCA #7, 8 p.m.
*Thursday, Jan. 2 – PPL Indoor #3
*Friday, Jan. 3 – La Salle Winter Series Boys Sprint Night
*Friday, Jan. 4 – La Salle Winter Series Girls Sprint Night
*Saturday, Jan. 4 – SJTCA #9, 8 p.m.
*Sunday, Jan. 5 – United Age Group TCA
*Wednesday, Jan. 8 – La Salle Winter Series Boys
*Thursday, Jan. 9 – PPL Indoor #4
*Friday, Jan. 10 – Delaware Valley Girls TCA
** Saturday, Jan. 11 – Penn Select
*Sunday, Jan. 12 – United Age Group TCA
*Wednesday, Jan. 15 – La Salle Winter Series Girls
** Friday, Jan. 17 – Quaker Invitational, Day 1
** Saturday, Jan. 18 – Quaker Invitational, Day 2
*Sunday, Jan., 19 – Track and Field Coaches of Greater Philadelphia #1
*Sunday, Jan. 19 – Marche Invitational
*Wednesday, Jan. 22, SJTCA #13, 5 p.m.
**Friday, Jan. 24 – Widener Division 3 Invite #1
** Saturday, Jan. 25 – Penn 10 Elite
*Sunday, Jan. 26 – PPL Indoor #4
*Sunday, Jan. 26 – Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches
*Wednesday, Jan. 29 – Pennsylvania Independent Schools Open
**Friday, Jan. 31 – Penn Relays Winter Showcase
*Saturday, Feb. 1 – Penn Relays Winter Showcase
*Sunday, Feb. 2 – PPL #5
*Sunday, Feb. 2 – Track and Field Coaches of Greater Philadelphia #2
*Wednesday, Feb. 5 – La Salle Winter Series Boys
*Friday, Feb. 7 – Henderson High School Meet
** Saturday, Feb. 8 – Penn Classic
*Sunday, Feb. 9 – PPL League Championship
*Wednesday, Feb. 12 – La Salle Winter Series Girls
*Friday, Feb. 14 – Delaware Valley Girls Track Coaches Association
**Saturday, Feb. 15 – Widener Division 3 Invite #2
*Saturday, Feb. 15 – Track and Field Coaches of Greater Philadelphia #3
*Sunday, Feb. 16 – Pennsylvania Independent Schools
*Sunday, Feb. 16- United Age Group TCA
** Friday, Feb. 21 – Philadelphia Metro
**Saturday, Feb. 22 – New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships
**Sunday, Feb. 23 – New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships
*** Saturday, March 1 – Trials of Miles
*** Saturday, March 8 – PRTC Open
* – High school meet
** – College meet
*** – Open meet
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 