Sports Briefs

W. Track ready for Heptagonals The Penn women's track team hopes to have fun this weekend at Heptagonals, the culminating meet of the season. And while they're at it, they'd like to rack in some points as well. "Coach Harris always reminds us to have fun," senior Meghan Moran said. "It's hard to compete well if you're not having a good time." In the field events, expected place-winners include Grace Maloney in the high jump, Meghan Moran in the triple jump, Charity Payne in the the shot put, and Sam Crook in the pole vault. "Our pole vaulters are really solid," Crook said. "Brown, Yale and Princeton each have one strong vaulter, but we've been having competition-oriented practices and we're ready for them." According to junior Lainey Lord, the runners are equally prepared. After a stellar performance two weeks ago at the Armory Invitational, Lord strives to place in the top six in the 3000 meter run. Lord also noted that after coming in last place at this meet last year -- in which the Red and Blue compete against all the Ivies and Navy -- they can only move up this time around. "Coach Harris is so energetic and has a very positive attitude towards the meet," Moran said. "It's hard not to feel good about the team when she's so enthusiastic about us." -- Lizzie Rodgers Pirsu to return for W. Tennis tomorrow Fresh off a dominating shutout victory over the undermatched Seton Hall, the Penn women's tennis team will face a major challenge tomorrow when No. 61 Maryland comes to Levy Tennis Pavilion. The Quakers will see the return of their No. 1 singles player Alice Pirsu from resting against the weaker Pirates last match and look to follow up on what has been an impressive three-match winning streak. The streak, featuring victories over No. 23 Virginia Commonwealth, SUNY Binghamton and Seton Hall, yielded tremendous results with the Quakers outscoring its opponents by an incredible 20-1 margin in match play. This weekend, however, will be no walk in the park for the Red and Blue, as the Terrapins come to Philadelphia hoping to avenge their first defeat of the season -- a disappointing 4-3 loss to Big Ten power Penn State. Senior captain Marta Jedrzejak leads the Terrapins this weekend. However, she and the rest of Maryland's team will have to cope with the absence of three-time All-ACC selection and current No. 53 ranked Delila Causevic. Causevic will not make the trip to Philadelphia. Causevic, a close friend of Penn junior Sanela Kunovac, recently left the Maryland team because of conflicts with her head coach. Kunovac expressed "shock" over the loss to Maryland and remains confident. "We feel really confident," Kunovac said. "The team played really well on Tuesday and we practiced well all week. This team is very focused." -- Jon Budish W. Fencing heads to IFAs tomorrow Now is the time for revenge. After a somewhat difficult weekend and a .500 regular season record in the Ancient Eight, the Penn women's fencing team is ready to cut up the competition at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships at Boston College tomorrow. This competition, unlike any other, is a regional competition and includes ten teams. Besides Penn, the other five Ivies will be present, along with NYU, BC, Brandeis and MIT. "It is going to be a long day," coach Dave Michanik said. "[But] multi-meets prepare people. Those are dress rehearsals for these types of tournaments." Top-performing individuals will be placed into a sixteen-player single-elimination individual bracket, where they will battle for personal honors. Last year, after having lost to Yale, Columbia and Princeton during the regular season, the Quakers came out with a vengeance and defeated the three Ivies, taking second place in the championships. In addition, Penn takes experience back to the IFAs, including senior Kimberly Linton, who took sixth last year in the sabres. But Penn must get healthy to perform well. During the past weekend, during which Penn finished a disappointing 1-3 at the Columbia Mulit-Meet -- during which Penn only defeated Cornell, the Quakers had many fencers at different levels of illness. "The important thing is to get the bodies healthy and get some technical timing and that is it," Michanik said. "I think getting healthy will make a big difference." -- David Perkel

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