Without Cook, W.X-Country places second at Delaware

Hurricane Floyd hit most of campus hard last Thursday, but for the Penn women's cross country team, the storm seemed little more than a spring shower when compared to the blow the squad suffered on Friday. Sophomore Susie Cook, the team's prized recruit from a year ago, officially quit the team on that day -- just before the team left to compete in the Delaware Invitational on Saturday. "Thursday was that storm and Friday she came in and quit," Penn coach Betty Costanza said. "She kind of left this group high and dry." Penn recovered from the loss of one of its top runners to place second behind Delaware in the Newark, Del., meet. Still, the unexpected loss of Cook has left the team shocked. "I think [the other Quakers runners] are disappointed. I think they're bewildered," Costanza said. "I'm hoping that they're angry. I'm angry that she would turn her back and walk away." Cook had told Penn assistant coach Cricket Batz-Shaklee last Wednesday that she was considering leaving the team. She did not finalize her decision, however, until Friday. Cook told the coaching staff of her decision but did not announce it to the team personally. "The coaches informed us," freshman Lauren Avallone said. "[Cook] hasn't come up to me but I know she has a lot of friends on the team so I'm sure she has talked to them." Costanza said that Cook left the team to pursue other activities on campus, but the Haddonfield, N.J., native would not elaborate. "It was a personal decision," Cook said. So, left without a runner who finished 15th in the Delaware Invitational last year, Penn came up just short, finishing 16 points behind Delaware. Halfway through the race, the Quakers were in position to steal first place. Junior captain Meredith Rossner, senior Stephanie Bell and sophomore Katie Henderson were all in the top 10. But only Rossner -- who finished seventh in 19 minutes, 41 seconds -- would stay there. "We had a nice pack for the first mile and a half and given the competition we should have been able to hold it," Costanza said. "But our pack kind of broke up." Bell, still recovering from bronchitis that kept her out of competition last week, ended up 14th. But the Quakers senior was 40 seconds behind Rossner. Henderson finished 22nd in 20:46, but she was passed by two Penn freshmen -- Avallone and Mackenzie Tepel -- in the last half-mile. "Katie and I have different running styles," Avallone said. "I tend to usually go out a little slower and pick it up at the end. She goes out a little faster and doesn't have as much left at the end." Avallone finished 17th in 20:33, while Tepel's time of 20:41 was good enough for 20th place. West Chester's Kelly Walton won the race in 18:38. Eleven teams competed on Saturday but only the six Division I schools were scored. Towson State took third with 72 points while Maryland-Baltimore County grabbed fourth place. The Quakers -- who finished last in their first meet, the Lafayette Invitational -- showed much improvement this weekend. But runners like Henderson and Bell are still running slower times than they had at this point last year. "We did better [at Delaware]," Henderson said. "It was an improvement over last week but we have a long way to go." The un-Cooked Quakers will be in action again next Saturday at the George Bertelsman Invitational.

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