CLUB ROUNDUP: Ski teams just keep winning

The 1993-94 school year has been a good one for Penn's sports teams. And that trend is continuing as the men's and women's ski teams both made it to mid-atlantic regionals, a feat that seemed impossible coming off last season. At Seven Springs Mountain Saturday and Sunday, the Quakers completed their regular season. The men placed second in the giant slalom and third in the slalom while the women placed third in both races. Co-captain Randy Balik led the men again, and was recognized by being named to the all-conference team. His supporting cast of sophomore Chad Sumner and juniors Mark Chiang and Jason Stoller skied well, giving the men a second place finish Saturday, their best result of the season. The women's squad was "disappointed" with its third place showing after finishing second the previous weekend. A major reason for the Quakers' slip was the absence of Hindi Wilding-White, the top finisher throughout the season. She missed the meet due to personal reasons, but promises to be ready this weekend for regionals. On the bright side for the women, senior captain Kristin Green and Shante Mahalaha were named to the all-conference team, joining Balik. Wilding-White skied well enough to make the team, but did not participate in enough races to qualify. "Both Kristin and I are very pleased with the results from last weekend," Balik said. "When you can enjoy the sport and be successful, it is the best." · The Penn Tae-Kwon-Do team has quietly put together a terrific year. The Black Belt team placed first in both tournaments it participated in this season, which both occurred last semester, leading the team to a second-place finish overall. Ben Hengst, Alex Mallet and Azlan Mohameed make up the black belt team. Instructor Welman Aquino, a senior, placed first in the form division at New York University. His skills were so good the judges commended him and called him back to put on a demonstration for all the performers. In the other meet, senior Richard Chung placed first out of 20 blackbelts in the form division. Next, Penn will visit Cornell. It is the sixth annual Big Red meet, and is scheduled to be the the biggest tournament in the northeast's history. · While the Quakers' mens basketball team left on Thursday for their game at Brown and managed to avoid the bad weather, the women's hockey team was not so lucky. It had to leave in the middle of the storm, and only traveled with 11 players. The team did not seem to miss anybody, winning 4-0 against the Chesapeake Bay Lightning. Penn outshot the Lightning 44-5. The win improved its record to 4-6. "We pretty much dominated the game, even though the score doesn't show it," assistant coach Brandon Power said. "A lot of our shots bounced off their defensemen. They got lucky." In two weeks, the Quakers will end their season with a game in Washington, followed by a home game against the same Chesapeake Bay squad. · "It's going all right," karate team member George Saloinghi said of the season. Penn's karate team has not had many competitions due to the bad weather, but is looking forward to the next few months when they will be made up. The Quakers will travel to William & Mary to compete this weekend. As in all matches, each of the seven teams in the league will be invited. The conference includes Temple, West Chester, Jefferson, Johns Hopkins, W&M; and Penn. In their previous match, the Quakers won in the form competition but lost in the fighting competition.