M.X.-Coiuntry shows improvement

The men's cross country team finished the season on a good note Saturday at the IC4As, the regional NCAA meet. The Quakers placed 19th out of 60 teams. Matt Wilkinson, Penn's top finisher, came in 67th overall. Georgetown took first place, with Villanova second and William & Mary third. Wilkinson was hoping to finish in the top 50 and qualify for nationals. He was in the 31st place at the five-mile mark, but ran a bad final mile and a half. After Wilkinson, Kurt Sprowls finished second for the Quakers at 97th. Then came John Blouin, Aaron McCommons and Kevin Spangle. "We did not that bad, but not that great," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. Last year the team finished 12th, seven places higher than this season, but the young Quakers still considered the meet a good performance. "This is a completely different group than last year," Powell said. "One of the goals of this season was to get a little experience race-wise, to get championship race experience. "Of the seven guys that ran in this race, only two ran last year. The young guys ran really well. I'm pretty happy." The team as a whole performed better than it did at the Heptagonals. The Quakers' goal this season was to finish in the top half of their conference meet. When it came in last out of nine teams at Heps, Penn felt it needed a good showing at the IC4As. One goal the team reached this season, besides gaining experience, was finding team leadership. "Kurt and Matt gave us the good leadership we hoped for. Kurt, especially, was like a coach," Powell said. "He was just tremendous." The team, with the exception of the Heptagonals, improved over the season, capping it off with a solid race Saturday. Overall, Penn's times were 30 seconds faster Saturday than at the beginning of the season. Now the Quakers can look toward next year. Only two of the top seven runners graduate, leaving behind a strong core. "We're racing with young athletes," Powell said. "We'll take what we have and build from there. Hopefully we can do a better job next year."