Penn coach Charlie Powell promised that his team would be unveiling a surprise at the Philly Classic last weekend.
It will have to wait for another weekend, because the Quakers didn't need any extra help at Belmont Plateau.
For the second time in its three meets this year, the Penn men's cross country team has come in first place overall.
The top overall finisher was sophomore Stephen Hayes, who finished third with a time of 25:50.98.
This was an impressive comeback for Hayes who was forced to sit out of Penn's meet two weeks ago with the flu.
"I was relatively happy with my results," Hayes said. "It wasn't a real competitive race."
Powell was impressed with Hayes' ability to bounce back after illness had forced him to sleep 16 to 18 hours a day the previous week.
"It's not that I don't expect great things from him, but he wasn't completely race ready," Powell said.
Other top Quakers finishers were sophomores Dan Treglia (4th), Nolan Tully (6th), George Weiner, (9th), and Josh Joseph (15th).
"I'm very happy with my results," Treglia said. "It was big improvement from last year [14th]."
Powell was also impressed by Joseph's finish.
"This race was a nice breakthrough for him," Powell said. "I'm happy for Josh."
Though Powell was happy for all his runners, the meet was far from the best competition the Red and the Blue will face this year. Division rivals No.1 Villanova , No.4 La Salle, and No. 5 Navy all sent their "B" teams. The Quakers were ranked seventh this week.
Hayes described the competition as "decent at best."
"It wasn't the kind of meet we're real proud about," he said.
Though Powell was somewhat subdued before the meet, he was still confident in triumph.
"I expected to be here all along," he said.
Still, the team can take pride in the fact that it was able to win without two of its top two harriers, sophomores Dusty Lieb and Erik Malmstrom. Lieb and Malmstrom were out of the lineup, because it was their week off from competition -- injury played no role in their absence.
It is also very easy to see the team's improvement from last season when most of the team consisted of freshmen. In every meet this season, the Quakers have finished in the same position or higher than they did last year.
"This year's team has a lot more confidence. We are a lot more prepared," Treglia said. "We are making big strides and we're only getting exponentially better."
Though Powell held off on the vaunted surprise this week, he is set to employ the new strategy at the Pre-National Meet in Terra Haute, Ind., on Oct. 19.
Though he will not comment on exactly what the strategy is, he believes his team is ready to adapt to any changes.
"They're a great group of people," said Powell. "They are very talented and extremely coachable."
