W. X-Country sophs hope to improve

Last year, Penn placed fourth out of 11 schools at the Invitational, coming in behind Villanova, Princeton and Columbia. Penn coach Betty Costanza, however, has set her sights high for the meet and the ensuing season. "Last year we did not have a particularly great year," Costanza said. A young Quakers squad closed out the '98 season by finishing ninth out of 12 teams at the ECAC Championships. Costanza believes the team has improved and has a chance to do better this year. "The [team] has the ability and the talent," Costanza said. "Hopefully we'll finish in the top three [this weekend]." However, Penn will be without last year's top runner, Rita Garber, who graduated in May. The loss of Garber -- who placed fifth overall at ECACs and was an NCAA qualifier -- leaves the team with a core of marginally experienced but confident sophomores. "Rita made us see some light on a team that had a lot of ability but didn't race well," Costanza said. Bronchitis and an unspecified injury, respectively, will keep senior Stephanie Bell and sophomore Samantha Desposito from competing tomorrow. Last year provided experience for the team's many freshmen, five of whom will be competing this weekend. "This sport is very intimidating -- we have freshmen competing against seniors who are physically stronger than them," Costanza said. "We have a very young team. The sophomores have a year under their belt now and they're very talented. We're looking for them to step up and move forward." Tomorrow, the Quakers will cover a 3.1-mile course which takes the average runner in the field about 20 minutes to complete. "This is a tough, hilly course," Costanza said. "It's pretty wide but it's tough and demanding." Junior captain Meredith Rossner believes a running camp the team attended last week will prove helpful in this weekend's competition. "It helped prepare us," Rossner said. "We're ready for this meet. Everyone's been working really hard over the last year and the summer." Sophomore Jessica Lloyd attributes the Quakers' strength as a team to their unity. "We love coming to run," Lloyd said. "We all help each other out -- on the track and off the track." Lloyd believes last year was a good learning experience for the team's sophomores. "We've had one year -- now we know what it's like, we know what to expect," she said. "We definitely have a good solid core." While Costanza sees this race as a chance for the Quakers to make their mark early in the season, she stressed that tomorrow's meet is not among the team's more important races. "Our focus is on the Heptagonals, the ECACs and the District 2 championships," she said. "This weekend we'll see [the team's] strong points and their weak points. That's what we'll try to determine this race."