Sports Briefs

Fencing sends five to NCAA championships

Three Penn men's fencers -- foils Yale Cohen and Andy Radu, as well as epee Mike Sanders -- will journey to Colorado Springs, Colo., this weekend after qualifying for nationals on March 8 at the Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals held at Penn State.

Cohen, who finished ninth at last year's nationals, took the silver medal at Regionals, one spot ahead of teammate Radu, who finished 17th at nationals in 2002. Sanders finished fourth overall in the epee squad at Regionals.

Sabre Kate Zimmerly and epee Jean Goto -- members of the Penn women's team -- will be joining the men in Colorado.

Freshman epee Livia Ruraz-Huygens, an alternate, will also compete if one of the other 24 epees who qualified cannot attend.

Zimmerly, who is making her nationals debut, placed tenth at Penn State.

Finishing fourth in the region, Goto will also compete in her first NCAA championships.

Alternate Ruraz-Huygens placed seventh at regionals.

-- David Burrick

Dowd hits century mark v. Pepperdine for W. Tennis

Although Penn women's tennis coach Michael Dowd recently celebrated his 100th win on March 13 against Pepperdine, he describes all the players as having a strong desire to win, saying "the team pushes itself."

That push has been paying off since the season began in January.

The team's record is currently 8-4 against non-Ivy League teams. According to Dowd, all of the matches have been extremely close and he feels very confident about what he considers "a great start to the season."

The team spent spring break in California where they beat Rice in a tournament, 4-3, thanks in large part to a win in the doubles match. Juniors Alice Pirsu and Sanela Kunovac and senior Raluca Ciulei all pulled out victories in their single matches as well, each of which was critical in the one point win.

In keeping with the team's history this season, all the matches were extremely close -- four of six matches went to three sets.

Dowd credits Ciulei with "really making big strides" for the team. She is 3-0 this spring. In addition to providing the opportunity for Ciulei and others to shine, California was also a great time for the team to spend eight straight days in the sun, bonding on and off the court.

The Quakers hope the trip will give them the push they need toward being mentally, physically and emotionally prepared for upcoming matches against their Ivy foes.

"The week before the Ivy opener is when we'll start to pump it up a little more," Dowd said.

The team will play against Cornell on March 29, but the real challenge will be beating Harvard and Yale. Despite Penn's status as two time defending Ivy champion, Harvard and Yale are ranked ahead of the Quakers.

Harvard and Yale may be "heavyweights on paper," but Dowd is confident in the team's ability to win this year because in addition to its frontline talent, the Quakers have solid depth.

-- Rachel Balik

Gymnastics finishes last against tough competition

While the weather outside last weekend was rather warm, the Penn gymnastics squad -- which traveled to College Park, Md. -- might have suffered from a case of cold feet.

The No. 65 Quakers faced their strongest competition of the year, taking on No. 24 North Carolina, No. 38 George Washington, and the No. 33 Terrapins, falling to all three schools.

"The girls were a little bit intimidated taking on these nationally competitive teams," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "But to be the best, we've got to start playing the best."

Maryland won the meet, scoring a 196.025 out of a possible 200. The Tarheels finished second, with a 194.925, while the Colonials took the bronze, delivering a 193.675. Penn scored a 188.2 overall.

But Kovic said his team's sub-par performance was mitigated by multiple factors -- most importantly injuries as several gymnasts were forced to sit out of the meet due to illness and injury.

Sophomore Laura Bouchelle was sidelined with a strained lower back from the Ivy Classic. She had an MRI yesterday to determine just how serious the injury was. Freshman Jessica Fuerst also sat out due to illness.

In perhaps the most courageous performance of the season, freshman Emily Petkun chose to compete despite having surgery to remove a cyst from her mouth Monday.

Kovic also credits the less- than-stellar performance to fatigue from Penn's last meet.

"The team put a tremendous amount of energy into Ivies," he said.

Despite finishing in last place, Penn did manage to deliver an excellent performance on the vault -- recording the program's second highest score on the apparatus -- a 47.875.

"I have to credit my captains for that one," Kovic said. "It was our last event and we knew we weren't going to win after a rough performance of bars and beams. But they made sure that the team didn't give up and didn't quit."

Despite losing by a significant margin to all three teams, Kovic believes his team is capable of much more.

"I don't want to be cocky," he said. "But I've got to believe my team can compete with any team. If we don't challenge ourselves, we will be stagnant. We need to set higher goals."

-- David Burrick

W. Track finishes indoors at ECAC Championships

The Penn's women's track team wrapped up its indoor season on March 8 and 9 at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships in Boston.

With five athletes competing in this culminating meet, the Quakers earned seven points and finished 36th out of 86 teams, tying with Columbia. Seton Hall won the meet with 77 points.

Kai Ivory and Michelle Hart together scored four points in the pentathlon. Ivory finished sixth, and Hart finished eighth.

In the high jump, Grace Maloney jumped 1.7 meters, tying for fifth place with three other athletes and scoring 2.5 points.

Other athletes that competed in the meet were Sam Crook and Lainie Lord. Crook's 3.65-meter pole vault put her in 11th place, and Lord's 10:25.02 3000m run put her in 14th place. However, neither finish was good enough to score any points for Penn.

The outdoor season begins Sunday when the Red and Blue host the Quaker Invitational at Franklin Field on March 23.

-- Lizzie Rodgers

W. Lax poised to take on Temple this afternoon

The Penn women's lacrosse team looks to build on its 14-1 win over Lafayette last Friday when it takes on cross-town rival Temple this afternoon in North Philadelphia.

Temple (0-1) lost its only game of the season against Delaware March 8 by a 10-9 margin. The Quakers (2-2) defeated the Blue Hens, 12-3, on Franklin Field to open their season March 5. Penn's only two losses this year have come against national powerhouses Duke and Johns Hopkins.

-- Andrew DeLaney

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