M.X-Country on verge of break out

While Friday's IC4A Invitational will give the Penn men's cross country team a chance to prove itself against highly ranked squads such as Duke and Princeton, the Quakers are not overly preoccupied with this race. "What happens this weekend has no bearing on what happens later on other than preconceived notions," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "We're just going to strap 'em up, run fast and see what we've got. It'll be a lot of fun, let's put it that way." Instead of putting pressure on themselves this weekend, the Quakers will instead concentrate mainly on the upcoming Heptagonal and District meets and the larger goal of qualifying for NCAA Nationals. According to Powell, they have not begun tapering -- lessening mileage and focusing on speed -- in training. Hence, Friday's race will have "very little bearing" on races later this season. "It's impossible to focus on IC4As, Heps and district," senior captain Scott Clayton said. "We really have to focus on district. IC4As takes a back seat to that meet." Yet, this Friday's meet is not a blowoff. Every win or loss weighs upon the district rankings and the Quakers are eager to move up from their No. 3 ranking. The Quakers will face their stiffest competition from Princeton, Duke and Villanova. The Quakers narrowly defeated the Wildcats two weeks ago. "A chance for an at-large bid for Nationals may come down to beating Princeton or Duke," freshman Matt Gioffre said. Clayton is eager to beat both teams not only to improve chances of qualifying but also to put Penn back in the national spotlight. "We haven't really earned anyone's respect on the national scale yet. It'll put us on the map to beat those two teams," Clayton said. "Duke is not completely healthy, and they're getting a lot of recognition based on their performances in past years." On an individual basis, Clayton and fellow senior Sean MacMillan have already posted strong finishes this season and Friday should be no exception. Clayton expects both himself and MacMillan to finish in the top 10 on Friday. "I'll be very disappointed if we don't," he said.