M. X-Country places fifth vs. nation's elite

Junior Sean MacMillan finished seventh overal to lead the Quakers in Oregon. The top three finishers for the Penn men's cross country team all crossed the line in the top 10 this past Saturday at the Oregon Invitational. Then they awaited the arrival of their next teammate. Unfortunately for the Quakers, they had to wait for well over a minute. The team captured fifth place out of the 12 squads in the race. Junior Sean MacMillan once again led the Quakers with a seventh-place finish and a time of 24:33. One second and one place behind him was Penn captain Scott Clayton. Rounding out the list of top 10 finishers was sophomore Bryan Kovalsky, in 10th with a time of 24:43. All three broke the 25-minute mark and beat most of the keen West Coast competition. One minute, 13 seconds later, freshman Anthony Ragucci joined the other three at the finish line in his best race of the year thus far. He managed to garner only 35th place in 25:56. "I think the overall team performance wasn't good," Clayton said. "The gap between the top three and the rest of the team was really big." Once again the health of the Quakers played a decisive roll in their performance. "I think that gap just closes up if our guys are healthy," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. Both freshman Matt Gioffre and junior Mark Granshaw, who have provided solid fourth- and fifth-place performances throughout the season, had health troubles on Saturday. Granshaw dropped to sixth on the team, having finished the race in 26:06. Coach Powell pointed to stomach problems as a reason for his somewhat disappointing performance. Gioffre had a lackluster race, and he was only able to place eighth on the team with a time of 26:42. "I just felt out of it during the race," Gioffre said. "Midway through the first mile, I knew I was going to have trouble." He had complained of both sore calves and flu-like symptoms for the week before the trip to Oregon. When he returned to Penn on Sunday night, he paid a visit to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was diagnosed with a staph infection. Gioffre is slated to resume practice today. The field in Oregon was full of quality runners. Washington State standout and 1997 All-American Bernard Legat won the race handily with a time of 24:04. "He just ran the first two miles and spent the rest of the race looking back at the field," Clayton said. Despite Penn's top-heavy final tally, the team did fare well against some high-caliber western teams. "We beat Nebraska, a team that a lot of people think is pretty good," Powell said. "We proved -- our top guys especially -- that we can run with just about anybody." The trip to the left coast was also fun for the Quakers. "We got to get to the Pacific Ocean and basically had a good time," MacMillan, who continued in his speedy ways on Saturday, said. Penn's most important race of the season looms in the near future. On October 30, the Quakers will travel to Van Cortland Park in the Bronx for the Heptagonal Championships. Heps will provide the team with one more opportunity to face off against a host of rivals, including Navy and all the members of the Ivy League. "I don't think this weekend changes our outlook for Heps," Powell said. "If we have any hopes of winning, we're going to need great races from at least seven guys. We're not 12-deep like teams like Oregon." The Quakers are not pillars of confidence right now, but they do believe they have a shot on October 30. "Individually, we've all had really good races over the course of the season. We just need to pull it together for Heps," Ragucci said. The Quakers have the upcoming weekend off, and it could not have come at a better time. With Gioffre fighting an illness and junior Jason Greene still nursing a sprained ankle, the team needs time to heal. The Red and Blue will take it somewhat easy for the remainder of this week. But next week they will have an opportunity to focus on peaking workouts aimed at readying the squad for Heps.

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