M. X-C has last tune up for Heps

The heat is on and the Penn men's cross country team is ready to turn it up a notch. Tomorrow's Albany Invitational at SUNY-Albany will be the Quakers' last easy breath heading into the final intense week of preparation before the Heptagonals. There will be 31 teams at the meet, but other than rival Dartmouth, Penn is not expecting much competition from a field of teams which are mainly outside of Division I. The Invitational marks the end of the regular season while signaling the beginning of the Quakers' quest for an Ivy League title and a chance to compete in the NCAAs. Coach Charlie Powell and junior co-captains Terry McLean and Joe Hall are confident about the team going into the race. After the Quakers' successful 10th-place finish in the highly-competitive Paul Short Invitational two weeks ago, they are optimistic that the runners behind McLean and Hall will be able to provide the backup necessary to finish near the top at the big meets. "The team is looking up," McLean said. "What it comes down to is the guys who came through at Paul Short – [sophomore] Kurt Sprowls, [junior] Alvarez Symonette, and [sophomore] Jack McMullan." This invitational is perhaps the least important meet of the entire cross country season. It will serve primarily as a chance for the team to pull itself together before the Heptagonals next weekend. "Its a warm up race for Heps, that's all it really is," Powell said. "It's what we've used this meet in the past for. We are really only concentrating on that." McLean added that it was not much more than a practice run. "It's just not important," McLean said. "We're just going there basically to have something to run before Heps – it's like a practice. We're not going there to race. We're not concerned the slightest bit about it." The Quakers' goal tomorrow is to strengthen the pack runners, or the number three, four, five and six men, while giving Hall and McLean rest before the pressure of the big meets. "If we are going to do well at Heps we are going to need five strong runners," Powell said. "You just can't be successful with only two." Powell plans to use Penn's top men Hall and McLean to set pace and ensure that the whole team is running according to strategy. They will not be running at their racing pace, while the balance of the team will be running as usual. "We'll set them loose after about four miles, let them race the last mile or two?but they'll have to stay with the group for the first miles," Powell said. "We're signed up to race, but we're not there to race. We're going to run together," McLean said. "We'll just go out there and make sure everyone's running where they should be. The whole idea is that we get the three, four, five and six men running well so when they get to Heps they'll do the same thing." Practices after this weekend will intensify heading into the most important meets of the season. The mileage has decreased significantly, but the team has been working on the subtleties and techniques of its racing strategy. According to Powell, training with intervals will give the team an edge in strength. "We're going to make the hard days harder and the easy days easier," Powell said. Essentially, the team is using this race for training only, so fans should not expect them to be running in top form. The team will save up the energy to burn by the formidable competition lying ahead at the Heptagonals.