W. X-C rested, ready for Heps

The Quakers head back to Van Cordlandt Park, the site of their last race. After two weeks of no competition and plenty of preparation, the Penn women's cross-country team will return to the Bronx and compete in its most important meet of the season, the Heptagonal Championships. This Friday, the team will be running at Van Cortlandt Park, the site of their last meet, the ECAC Championships. In that race, Penn had some strong performances but ended up 11th out of 12 teams. "It was pretty brutal competition for us," Penn assistant coach Crickett Batz-Shaklee said. "The race was tough for our team." Penn is hoping that the experience it gained from the ECACs will equate to a strong performance in the Heps. Though the team could have run in a much easier race than the ECACs, Batz-Shaklee believed that running at Van Cortlandt would give her squad an advantage in the Heps. "The ECACs were a preview to the Heptagonal Championships," she said. "I thought that it was crucial that we get some experience against stiff competition." Though ECAC champion Duke will not be running in the Heps, all eight Ivy League schools -- including a Cornell squad that placed second two weeks ago -- will be competing. Cornell has run well all season and, given its strong performance at Van Cortlandt, is definitely the favorite. If the Quakers hope to compete for the championship, they will have to master a challenging course which presents runners with numerous tough obstacles. "This course was kind of a surprise to the underclassmen," junior captain Meredith Rossner said. "We told them it was hard but they didn't really know how difficult it was. Now we have something that we can actually visualize for the Heps." The key for Penn will be to run as a team. Because only the top five of eight scores are used in computing a team's total score, the strategy is to have at least five runners near the front. "We need the team to really pull together," Batz-Shaklee said. "I don't even know who our top five will be, anyone could step in there and help us out." Penn is hoping that its young runners, including the three freshmen, will be able to improve their times in their second shot at Van Cortlandt. If this happens and upperclassmen Rossner and Stephanie Bell can improve on their strong performances from two weeks ago, Penn should be in good shape. One obstacle Penn will have to overcome is the steep and narrow middle section of the Van Cortlandt course. This section is known for being long and grueling. Also, given the narrow trail, passing is virtually impossible. In order to prepare for their most important and final meet of the season, the team has been in their final "phase" of training. This means focusing less on mileage and working mainly on speed. The Quakers hope that this will give the team fresh legs at Van Cortlandt. "Hopefully, we will be ready on Friday," Rossner said. "Our legs should be springy and we'll be ready to go." Because of the unique challenges presented by the course, Penn will have to use a different strategy from the one it has employed thus far this season. The goal will be to run harder than usual at the beginning rather than to conserve energy for the finish. With a quick start, the Quakers could be in a good position for the uphill section where passing is difficult. With the right strategy and some clutch performances, Penn could surprise some teams this weekend.