M. Cross-Country takes all but first at Delaware

The first-place performance of Delaware runner Patrick Riley was all that kept the Penn men's cross-country team from a perfect race Saturday morning.

The Quakers had the second- through sixth-place finishes in Saturday's Delaware Invitational, dominating the meet with a total of 20 points.

Junior Stephen Hayes led Penn with his second-place finish, finishing in 26:11.

Hayes' teammates were not far behind.

Penn junior Matt Van Antwerp, finished third, 11 seconds behind Hayes. Rounding out the group were freshman Troy Werner (26:40), sophomore Breton Bonnette (26:55) and junior George Weiner (27:07).

The Quakers breezed to victory, defeating six opponents, including Hofstra, Loyola, Towson, Delaware State and Morgan State.

The University of Delaware finished second with 39 points.

The final score is derived from the sum of a team's top five runners' finishing positions. The team with the lowest score total wins the meet.

The competition was not particularly strong, which helped Penn earn its first victory of the season. The victory followed a second-place finish in the previous weekend's Fordham Invitational at Van Cortland Park in New York.

The Quakers cruised by the other schools, but did not handle the course with the same ease. Hurricane Isabel passed through the region on Friday, resulting in slower times and a choppy course.

Werner struggled on the wet course, as he experienced a 34-second increase in his time from his first collegiate meet at Fordham.

"It was really humid that day, and it had just rained, so the course was slower," Werner said about Saturday's meet. "I'm from California, so I'm just used to dry heat."

Despite Werner's lapse this week, Powell noted his early strides, saying that the freshman is "the real deal."

Slower times were not the case for every Penn runner. Freshman James Roat, 13th overall at Delaware, beat his previous time by nine seconds. He attributed the improvement to the valuable experience he gained at the previous meet, where he ran the eight kilometer distance that is significantly longer than the five kilometers generally run at high school meets.

In addition to overcoming the weather and the course conditions, Penn's victory came without one of its junior standouts. Nolan Tully, Penn's top finisher in the Fordham Invitational, was leading the pack when he felt calf muscle cramps and had to drop out of the race.

Penn coach Charlie Powell explained that early competitions give the Quakers the opportunity to "pack run" and figure out how the team is doing at this point in the season.

"We're a heck of a lot faster than we were last year," he said. "We're certainly a lot deeper."

The Quakers will have a two-week break before their next competition. They will be back in action for Lehigh's Paul Short Memorial Run on Oct. 4.

There, the Quakers will enter 13 runners in a field of at least 241, facing tough competition including Penn State, Georgetown, Colgate and Pittsburgh.

After two weeks of what Powell classified as a sort of preseason, the Quakers will enter the bulk of their schedule.

"Now it's time to really get going," Powell said. "The month of October is really where you separate the pretenders from the contenders."

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