After a weak Heps, X-Country heads to District Championship

Ten months is a long time to have a bad taste in your mouth. Both the Penn men's and women's cross country teams put forth lackluster performances at the Heptagonal Championships on October 30. The men finished a disappointing sixth and the women in last place. Now, unless a Penn runner qualifies for the national championship, the Quaker teams have only one race before their respective seasons end. Therefore, tomorrow's NCAA District Championship at Navy's home course in Annapolis, MD. takes on added importance. "This is probably going to be our last race until the beginning of next season, ten months from now," Penn junior captain Scott Clayton said. "We want to remember a good race." It is unlikely that the men's team will secure one of the two automatic team bids into nationals offered on Saturday. This possibility completely disappears for the women's team since they are fielding merely four runners, and five scores count in cross country. "Winning is not really a concern," Penn men's coach Charlie Powell said. "We're going to try to focus in and give a solid performance." For the second straight race, the men's team may have to compete without their No. 1 weapon. Sean MacMillan, the junior who has led the Quakers in every race he has been able to start, may still be sidelined by a nagging illness. "Right now, there's an outside shot that Sean will run the race," Powell said yesterday. "He's going to see a specialist today." MacMillan has been practicing with the team over the past week, but has had difficulty completing challenging workouts. The women's pre-eminent threat will not watch Saturday's race from the sidelines. Rita Garber constitutes much of the reason why the Penn women are making the trip to Annapolis. Garber, who equalled Clayton's ninth-place finish at Heps two weeks ago, has a realistic shot at garnering an at-large bid to the National Championships at the University of Kansas on November 23. The elite runners from the mid-Atlantic region will face a Navy course that is two kilometers longer for the men than the usual 8K distance. The 6.2 mile course will take the 37 invited teams across the rolling hills of a golf course. "Usually the longer distance doesn't change the way the race is run," Clayton said. "I know that I'm going to be a lot more aggressive than I was at Heps." Clayton's promised tenacity and general relaxation are characteristic of the overall attitude of the Penn men's team. "Personally, I'm pretty optimistic about the race because we're treating it just like a normal race," sophomore Bryan Kovalsky said. "There's really no pressure." The Quakers are unquestionably less tense going into tomorrow than they were before traveling to Heps. The only role that they can play is that of spoiler. "We just want to show that we've bounced back," Powell said. "If we beat some teams that are up there, it'll be a nice bonus." Princeton and Georgetown are the consensus favorites going into Districts. The Hoyas defeated the Tigers at the Paul Short Invitational on October 3, but most give the slight advantage to the Ivy Jerseyites. "I think that Princeton's going to be able to beat Georgetown," Clayton said. "The real advantage that they have is the pack that they run in. There's never much more than 30 seconds in between their No. 1 and No. 5." Health, as usual, will be a significant factor in determining how well the male Quakers fare tomorrow. Apart from MacMillan's malady, the legs of freshman Anthony Ragucci and Kovalsky are of interest. Ragucci, one of the seven varsity Penn competitors, has been running with pain for at least two weeks. Kovalsky has also experienced lingering soreness. "Right now, I feel about 95 percent," Kovalsky said. The pressure is off the shoulders of the Penn men's and women's cross country teams. All that remains is an opportunity to end the season on a positive note.