W. X-C to face Tigers, Rutgers

Quakers need to overcome injuries, youth The Penn's women's cross country team comes faces Rutgers and Princeton today at 4 p.m. on Princeton's Battlefield. Today's meet is the opener for Rutgers, but for Penn and Princeton, after good starts last week, this will be their second race. Princeton can only hope to perform as well as it did at the Lafayette Invitational last weekend, finishing first out of 11 teams. The Quakers, too, aim to build on last week's strengths. Despite numerous injuries among team members, including top distance runner and senior captain Michelle Belsley, Penn placed six out of 15 tems at the Fordham Invitational last week. "[At the Fordham Invitational] we did well as far as the pack staying up with each other," freshman Kacey Corbett said. Penn's hope for today is to strengthen the teamwork that forged a measure of success last week. Senior Lorie Roth believes that at this time in the season the runners really need to focus on the competition. "You're always nervous at first, Roth said. "We need to get these first couple of races under our belts. We look forward to improving." With the first race jitters behind them, Penn can hone in on its goals. Working to intensify the team unity that proved to be an asset last week, the Quakers hope to have a good start and build on that throughout the race. "Princeton is a much flatter course so you have to race it differently -- you need to go out fast" sophomore Rita Garber said. But to be successful at Princeton, Penn will not only need to overcome its injuries, but also overcome its inexperience. The Quakers are a much younger team than either Princeton or Rutgers. In addition, Penn will aim to decrease the distance between the front pack and middle pack. "We had a solid middle and what we want to do is move that group closer to the front pack," Garber said. But what Penn may lack in experience, however, it makes up for in enthusiasm. "The team is really pulling everything together," Belsey said.