The Penn women's cross country team will look to improve on encouraging early-season results when it competes in the La Salle Invitational this weekend at Belmont Plateau.
The team has already seen improved results over last year in both the Ram Invitational and the Paul Short Invitational, and sees the weekend meet, which will feature schools such as La Salle, Princeton and Cornell, as an excellent chance to tune up for the upcoming pre-nationals.
"In a race like this, it's a chance to see what you can really do," Penn freshman Christine Myers said. "This weekend will really give us a chance to experiment and put it all out there."
The Quakers are especially enthused about the prospect of competing at Belmont, a place where Penn frequently practices and more importantly, a course with which the athletes are familiar.
"It boosts your confidence to run on a course that you know," said Penn junior Erin Okawa, who remains questionable for this weekend's event with a hamstring injury, "and we're all pretty familiar with the course."
For some, however, familiarity can breed contempt.
"We've run this course probably more than we ever would want to," joked junior Abbi Gleeson.
The fact that the race will be held at Belmont also means that the athletes can hope for greater fan turnout.
"It will be good to have more support there," Myers said.
The team has impressed thus far under new coach Gwen Harris, and both Myers and Okawa attribute the early-season success to strong team chemistry.
Star junior Gleeson said that while it is "all about the team" for the Quakers, the La Salle meet will be a chance for the runners to work on some personal bests.
"This is the first meet where we're able to go out and run our own race," Gleeson said. "We should be able to do pretty well."
The Quakers will have to make do, however, without Lainie Lord, one of the top runners on the squad, who will not be in action this weekend.
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