Jesse Spector: W. X-C surprises at start

Over the past few years, the Penn women's cross country team has been both out of sight and out of mind.<p> The Quakers do not have any home meets, doing their running in the Bronx, Delaware and northeastern Pennsylvania.<p> And they haven't run very well in those places in recent memory, last winning in October of 1997 at the Lafayette Invitational.<p> The Quakers came into this season with a lack of experience that would make the Princeton men's basketball team blanch.<p> Penn's roster, which features half as many former figure skaters (two) as returnees, seemed about as well-suited for the Class of 1923 Rink as for Van Cortlandt Park.<p> Perhaps only expectations that the Red and Blue could have possibly held for this season was that they would not completely embarrass themselves.<p> But the Quakers finished second at the Lafayette Invitational to open the season and registered their first win in nearly three years on Saturday in Delaware.<p> How in the world did this happen?<p> At Delaware, it was no great surprise to see that Penn junior Samantha Desposito won the six-kilometer race. The surprise was who finished closely behind her.<p> The Blue Hens' Aimee Alexander finished in second, and she was trailed by two Quakers who were running in their second competitive cross country race ever -- the only time that either Kristen Koch or Abbi Gleeson had raced before was the previous week at Lafayette.<p> Koch, a sophomore, walked onto the team, while Gleeson, a freshman, was a figure skater up until last February, when she "got sick of the training and not having a social life."<p> Koch grew up playing soccer, but missed the competition of athletics last year, so she asked if she could try out.<p> "I did the workouts that Cricket [Batz-Shaklee, Penn's distance coach] sent me and came back in shape," Koch said. "So I asked for a chance. I think they were a little skeptical at first."<p> And although Koch described her performance at Delaware as merely "OK," she, like the rest of the team, knows that the season will only get tougher against Ivy competition. Now is not really the time to be counting on winning at Heptagonals.<p> "I didn't expect it to be this easy this early anyway," Koch said. "I'm surprised at the lack of competition thus far. It's been a good starting point for us to get confident for Heps and the Paul Short Invitational."<p> Gleeson has been into track for a bit longer.ÿShe started to run for her high school team in the spring after quitting skating. But this fall is the first time that she has run cross country.<p> "I thought I was going to be the only one who wasn't going to have run cross country," Gleeson said. But she wasn't. She wasn't even the only figure skater who showed up to run for the Quakers.<p> "I've never had a figure skater in my life," Batz-Shaklee said. "And now I have two, so go figure."<p> That second figure skater, Caitlin Driscoll, another freshman, is slated to make her debut for the Red and Blue this weekend at the Rutgers Invitational.<p> "Figure skaters are in shape, so I wasn't surprised that she had gotten into running," Gleeson said. "I love it."<p> Gleeson also finds it easier to run with the rest of her teammates than she did over the summer when she worked out by herself.<p> Everything seems to be easier for these two new Quakers, not to mention many of their equally green teammates.<p> "I have no experience on an experienced team," Koch said. "There's a unique enthusiasm. Each race is kind of exciting, because the novelty hasn't worn off. Everyone has a really good attitude towards it which is carrying over to our performance."<p> It may not continue throughout the season, but the Quakers are taking fresh steps in the right direction.

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