W. X-C gets first win in three years

It has been nearly three years since the Penn women's cross country team did what it did this weekend at the Delaware Invitational. Since winning the Lafayette Invitational in October of 1997, Penn has suffered through almost three years of tormented runs around the Northeast, struggling to put together a positive result. The Quakers finally got off the schnide this weekend, finally conquered an entire field of competition. They won a meet. "It was nice to come out and run really strong," Penn assistant coach Cricket Batz-Shaklee said. "I'm pleased with the way they ran. They've been working really hard to establish themselves in the race, and they got out very well at the top of the pack." Penn got to the top of the pack and stayed there. Junior Samantha Desposito blasted the field in the six-kilometer race with a course record 23:09 and was followed closely by her teammates. Penn runners made up three of the field's top four, and nine of the top 14. "To have nine [runners] in the top 14 spots was a shock to me," Batz-Shaklee said. The Quakers registered 25 points for the meet, nearly cutting in half their 48-point showing at last year's Delaware meet. Penn defeated the host Blue Hens by 14. Towson followed with 93, and six more schools lagged further back in the field. Perhaps the most surprising element of the victory for the Red and Blue was their continued reliance upon a lineup that does not boast much experience with competitive running. Kristen Koch, a walk-on sophomore in just her second competitive cross country race, finished third at White Clay Creek State Park with a time of 23:54, 11 seconds behind Delaware's Aimee Alexander for second place. "Personally, I think I have a ways to go, but it's early yet," Koch said. "I'm really competitive. I want to win. I just think mentally, I could have run a better race. That'll come with experience. I'm still learning." Freshman Abigail Gleeson, who has more experience as a figure skater than as a runner, crossed the line in fourth place, 20 seconds after Koch. "Abbi was dynamite for us," Batz-Shaklee said. A pack of four Penn harriers -- sophomore Alexandra Bliss, freshman Cristen Butler, freshman Erin Okawa and senior Meredith Rossner --finished in eighth through 11th place at the meet. The Quakers will try to keep the good times on the course rolling when they next take to the course on Saturday at the Rutgers Invitational in New Brunswick, N.J.

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