Sports Briefs: Thursday, September 30, 1999

Penn names assistants for Tennis, Swimming Gates comes to Penn from the Chatham Beach and Tennis Club, where she served as head pro. Before that, she was the world class pro at the renowned Van Der Meer Tennis Academy on Hilton Head Island, S.C. A 1998 graduate of Notre Dame, Gates led the Fighting Irish to the Big East Championship in 1997 and qualified for the NCAA doubles tournament that year and in 1998. Gates replaces Whitney Springstead, who left Penn earlier this month to coach at Drexel. Penn also hired Daphne Hernandez yesterday as the assistant coach for the men's and women's swimming and diving teams. She will assist Michael Schnur, who became the interim head coach earlier this month when longtime coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert retired. Amy Sullivan was named as the assistant coach of the Penn women's lacrosse team. She joins new head coach Karin Brower in trying to turn around a team that went 1-12 last season. The Athletic Department also named Jim Mesisca director of fiscal operations and Laura McLoughlin assistant director of alumni relations for athletics. --Jesse Spector Ortman, Callaghan top players of the week Tim Ortman is at it again. The Penn sprint football team's senior running back garnered the Collegiate Sprint Football League's Offensive Player of the Week honors for his performance in the Red and Blue's 35-0 win at Cornell last Friday. Ortman, last year's league MVP and the all-time leading rusher at Penn, ran for 157 yards and two touchdowns -- including a 61-yard scamper in the second quarter -- against the Big Red. The tri-captain was named the league's Offensive Player of the Week three times last season. But Ortman was not the only Penn senior to garner top offensive honors last week. Andrea Callaghan, the leading scorer on the Penn women's soccer team, was named the Ivy League Player of the Week Tuesday. The Moorestown, N.J., native scored the game-winner in Penn's wins last week against Dartmouth and Cornell. Thanks to Callaghan's powerful foot, the Quakers are now 2-0 in Ivy League play after going 1-5-1 in the Ancient Eight last year. Callaghan got off to a good start towards garnering more honors when she scored two more goals yesterday in Penn's 4-0 demolition of the Owls at Temple. She now has five goals on the season. Callaghan was an All-Ivy Honorable Mention last season. -- J.S.