Holiday festivities in the Penn sports world

That was in October. Today, the Quakers are 0-5. With three weeks before its next contest, however, Penn's future may be looking up. The vacation will be a time to heal injuries. "In light of our injuries, I'm glad we have the break," Soriero said. "It gives us a chance to regroup. It gets those kids who are injured healthy, and we have a chance to prepare them to play. We need the time to practice." Penn will not see action again until New Year's Eve when they face Richmond at the Palestra. Richmond has won all three meetings since the series began in 1988. The Spiders are a young team overall but are very experienced in the backcourt, with juniors Denise Winn and Patience Jones returning. The Quakers travel to Lehigh to face an injury-plagued Engineers team Jan. 3. Penn has been able to compete with Lehigh in the past, beating the Engineers 73-69 at the Palestra last season. Lehigh still boasts last year's Patriot League assist leader in junior Jessica Mudry, but if the Quakers step up the defensive pressure, they could capitalize on Lehigh's tendency to turn the ball over. "We can either say, 'This has been the worst two weeks of our lives' and walk away just happy to be done with the injury situation and have a break. Or we say 'Look, we're a little bit further than we thought we would be.' " The Quakers start the Ivy League season the first weekend in January, with contests against Harvard and Dartmouth. Penn sees these games as its "target date to have everybody back" from injuries, according to Soriero. The return of starting point guard Erica McCauley could spark the Quakers, who have been looking for more consistency from that position. Senior co-captain Shelly Bowers has not been able to control the ball, turning it over 34 times so far in the young season. The Quakers end Winter Break with a Big 5 contest at Villanova Jan. 13. With the exception of 1975, the Wildcats have beaten Penn in every meeting over the past 20 years. In addition, Villanova has experience on its side, returning all five starters from last year. Then there's freshman Priscilla Rosenthal, a 6-foot-4-inch center who will come off the bench to help pace the Wildcats' inside game. -- Jane Havsy The season may have just begun. The NCAAs may still be months away. But for five of Penn's best wrestlers, this year's toughest competition may be just around the holiday corner. For the Quakers' anointed five -- senior co-captains Gary Baker and Brian Butler, senior Gonzalo Medina, junior Joey Allen and sophomore Brandon Slay -- it is almost time for the Midlands Open. The five Penn wrestlers selected by a tournament committee for the Midlands will travel to Evanston, Ill. to face the country's best Dec. 29-30. The tournament is considered the premier holiday wrestling event. Unlike the NCAAs, the Midlands does not limit itself to undergraduates, making the tournament arguably even tougher than the NCAAs. Butler knows all about wrestling non-collegiate foes. Last year, the first-team all-Ivy senior was one round away from finishing in the top eight and placing. However, putting a dent in his march was his next opponent, Charlie Jones -- a former national champion and the current coach at Eastern Michigan. "A man against a boy," said Butler, who was ranked as high as 14th in the country at 190. This year, the senior co-captain is hoping to be the man. "I'm going there to win, " Butler said. Allen, who also plays football for Penn, is still trying to get into wrestling condition. Wrestling, the junior heavyweight said, uses completely different muscle groups. "I don't know what to expect," Allen said. "Right now, I just want to get in really good condition." When most students are visiting their families, these five men are escaping the cold of Philadelphia for the cold and wind of Illinois. It is all for the opportunity to prove themselves against the best. -- Mike Hasday While most Penn students are sleeping until noon, watching television, and visiting friends and family during Winter Break, the men's swimming team will be back in the pool after a short 10-day vacation. The Quakers will be putting in two-a-days beginning Jan. 2 in preparation for their Jan. 14 clash with Dartmouth (1-1-1, 0-1-1, EISL) in Hanover. Originally, the team was scheduled to go to Florida to train over break. But do to a lack of funding, the trip was pushed back until next year. Many members of the team feel the funding would have been there for the "bigger" teams to make such a trip. "Compared to the big sports, like basketball and football, we are subordinated," freshman Andrew Valins said. Despite the change in plans, the Quakers (0-4, 0-4) are confident they will be ready for the Big Green. Penn will try to forget its down-to-the wire defeat at the hands of Columbia last weekend. Despite blowing a 10-point lead in the final event against the Lions, the Quakers remain confident in their abilities. Sophomore Jeff Brown is a lock to win any event he enters, whether it be a freestyle or butterfly event. In his seven-individual races this season, Brown has collected six first-place finishes, his only non-win being a second-place finish behind Princeton's Fred Klein, an NCAA-qualifier last year. But if they are to end their winless drought, the Red and Blue will have to get solid performances across the board. Junior diver Josh Schultz will be a key to a Penn victory. Dartmouth will be led by five seniors -- Ross Downey, John Marshall, Mark Shukovsky, Louis Tucker and Pete Woodson. While they lack the explosiveness of Ivy teams such as Princeton and Harvard, Dartmouth will pose a strong challenge to Penn. The Quakers will try to concentrate on the positives from the Columbia meet. But for Penn, moral victories are getting old. It is time to get a win. -- Eric Goldstein When the Quakers return to campus immediately after the new year, they will be practicing straight through the remainder of winter break with the hopes of accomplishing two important goals. Of course, Penn wants to work hard. By cancelling its traditional winter training trip to Florida, the Quakers (0-4, 0-4 Ivy League) will not have any distractions as they practice. Penn will be able to use this practice time to determine exactly where they are as far as physical conditioning goes. And since the Quakers will not even be competing until Jan. 14 when they travel to Dartmouth, all indications of how hard they have been working will have to be determined in practice. The Quakers will also have other things on their minds. Due the controversy toward the end of last season, with the men's swimming team petitioning for the removal of coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert, the swimming teams have acquired a reputation that is anything but complimentary. "The more bad things people say about the team, it becomes much easier for us to call it quits," freshman Karen Weiss said. "It just makes it harder for us to concentrate." -- Matt Wasowski Sophomore Michelle Belsley believes the early practices are crucial. Belsley added few people look forward to practicing in the inevitable snow and cold. Penn Coach Betty Costanza said hardly any athletes have the proper facilities to train at home, so the practices are necessary to keep the athletes in shape. Costanza also desperately hopes to see the return of three of Penn's best middle distance runners at Yale. Jenee Anzelone and Mary Lourdes Conway both ran cross-country and were unable to compete at the beginning of the indoor track season. Belsley tore a hip-flexor and is awaiting news about a possible stress fracture. "I'm sick of sitting around," she said. Her status for the Yale Invitational, however, is doubtful. She expects to return to normal shape near the end of the indoor track season. Yale will provide a new set of circumstances for the Quakers. Their track is a springboard track, meaning the track is placed on top of boards, which makes it faster. Penn, which has little experience on an indoor track to begin with, will now have to make an even bigger transition. -- Steve Schorr The winter break brings with it a month-long absence of competition for the Penn men's indoor track team. Over the next few weeks the team will continue to train for the Jan. 14 meet at Navy against the Midshipmen and North Carolina State. Coach Charlie Powell believes it is still too early in the season to start making predictions about the future. "The training is going well so far, but we are getting started for the indoor season," he said. The lack of meets will be nothing new for the Quakers, who have been practicing since the beginning of the school year. The team will continue its rigorous training schedule over winter break. "Our goals over break are to stay healthy, catch up on sleep, and to not get out of shape," Powell said. -- Brett Cohen The team will report back to Penn January 9th, one week before break ends. The Quakers will resume their normal practice schedule and try to take advantage of the week they have before the Navy -N.C. State meet. The Midshipmen and the Wolfpack will provide a good challenge for the Quakers. The two teams are highly regarded and Navy is considered to be one of Penn's main competitors at the end-of-the-year Heptagonal Championships. Adding to the importance of the meet is the fact it will be scored on a team basis, unlike many indoor track meets where only individual results are official. Penn will be at a disadvantage going into the meet because the Quakers will be returning to campus later than both Navy and N.C. State. "Navy and N.C. State will be a little sharper than us at the meet," Powell said. "They both will have competed at meets on Jan. 7." The season is still young for the Quakers, and the championship meets are more than two months away. The team is still in the process of finding out just how good it is. The winter break will provide more time for the team to prepare for its run for Heptagonals.