Injuries hamper W.X-Country at George Bertelsman Invite

While the Penn women's cross country team was not at full strength in its latest meet, several strong performances gave the Quakers a reason to be excited for the future. Penn sprinted to a fourth-place finish in the George Bertelsman Invitational, posting a team score of 94. Led by Meredith Rossner's fifth-place finish, Penn defeated St. John's and Wagner but was not able to keep up with Fordham, St. Joseph's and Monmouth. Fordham won the event with a team score of 44. The Quakers would have been much more poised for a better team finish had they been healthy. Unfortunately for Penn, Stephanie Bell, one of the team's top runners, was experiencing respiratory problems and was unable to run. The situation for Penn only got worse when Katie Henderson tripped and sprained her ankle during the race. The Red and Blue were also running without Susie Cook, one of their top performers, who quit the team last week. The key to the Rams' victory in the meet was great balance. By placing three runners in the top 10 and five in the top 13, Fordham was able to run away with the meet. Only one other team, St. Joe's, had more than one person in the top 10. Rossner, a junior, was clearly the highlight of the meet for Penn. She finished the five-kilometer race in just over 19 minutes and 34 seconds. "That is an excellent time for that course," Penn assistant coach Cricket Batz-Shaklee said. "She ran a really good race." Equally impressive were the performances of freshmen Lauren Avallone, who placed 15th, and Neha Amin, who finished 22nd. "It was a tough meet for our team but I am satisfied with my performance," Amin said. Penn's team performance, however, would have been better if Henderson had not fallen. "Katie was having a great race. We thought this might be a breakout race for her," Batz-Shaklee said. "She was very disappointed." The injury problems plaguing the Quakers ruined any shot the team had at placing high in the meet. "We were missing two out of our top five," Batz-Shaklee said. "That killed our chances of doing anything." Penn, however, has reason to be excited with the performance of Rossner, as well as the strong nucleus of young runners that has emerged. Avallone's performance was fast enough to earn her third place among all freshmen who competed. The team will not be in action for two weeks, and given the recent injury problems, this break could be just what the doctor ordered. "Hopefully, we can get healthy," Amin said. "That is what we need to do." Batz-Shaklee believes that the Quakers will improve given a little time. "We have not really yet met our competition," she said. "We have been slowly getting out all the bugs." Penn will return to the track October 9 at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa. With any luck and a little recuperation, the Quakers should be a healthier and faster team come next month.

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