X-Country teams come up short at Heps

Women finish sixth for 2nd Straight year Women finish sixth for 2nd Straight yearBY JESSE JACOBSWomen finish sixth for 2nd Straight yearBY JESSE JACOBSDaily Pennsylvanian Sports Writer Last year the Penn women's cross country team finished sixth in the Heptagonal Championships. Friday, the Quakers came up with a repeat performance in the most important event of their season. "I think we were pleased," junior Bridget Ward said. "That's about where we had hoped to finish." "We had a good showing," junior Jane Kim said. "I don't think we disappointed anyone. I guess we ran as well as we could have. It was a strong sixth place. We went in there and did our job." Cornell, the overwhelming favorite, easily beat the seven other Ivy schools and Navy with a score of 31. Dartmouth was the only school close behind at 48. Princeton, Navy, and Brown filled up the next three spots, leading to Penn at 147. Morrow, the team leader, was the first Quaker to cross the finish line at 23rd in 19 minutes and 9 seconds. Close behind were sophomore Mary Conway at 27th (19:20), Ward (28th, 19:21), junior Jenee Anzelone (34th, 19:33), Kim (41st, 19:43), junior Caitlin Riley (49th, 20:02), and sophomore Melanie Gesker (54th, 20:17). Kim, whose status was questionable entering the race, came out of the cast on her leg that morning and did a commendable job. She said that she felt no pain during the race. "It was a real impressive performance by Jane," assistant coach Tony Tenisci said. "She really held us in her position. Holding fifth for us, she really did an incredible job considering she hadn't run a whole week and was in a cast." "Especially considering [Kim] wasn't 100 percent," Ward said. "She did an excellent job." Conway, who said she felt overwhelmed by the number of participants in the Paul Short Invitational on October 9, ran brilliantly Friday. Junior Heather McGrath also contributed to the team effort with possibly her best showing of the year. "Mary was awesome," Ward said. "Heather ran really well. She bettered her time by a significant amount from last year." "Mary ran a really excellent race," Tenisci said. "She was tremendous. She's come a long way." With just the ECAC Championships on November 12-13 remaining on the Quaker schedule, Penn has optimism for next year. With such a young, promising group of runners returning it should become one of the top teams in the Heps next year. "We're looking forward to next year," Ward said. "Next year we have a lot of high hopes." "Hopefully, next year we will be all the more stronger," Kim said. "I have a feeling we are going to do amazingly next year because we have everyone coming back."