Sophomore Luke Grau crossed the finish line of his 8K race with a time of 24:51- and only one sneaker.
Grau proved himself in more ways than one at the Paul Short Cross Country Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa., on Friday,where Penn finished 12th.
Coming in 20 seconds -but 25 places overall - behind teammate and fellow sophomore Chris Baird, Grau opted to abandon his unstable sneaker after another runner had stepped on his heel about one mile into the race.
"I ran with it for a little bit, and then just decided to kick it off," he said.
Although Grau was disappointed with his final result (63rd place), his teammates and coaches were impressed with his effort.
"Some people are just hard as nails," head-coach Charlie Powell said. "And Luke is one of those people."
Baird, whose 24:31 time led the Quakers, would have preferred a fully equipped teammate as well, saying that he and Grau run well together under normal circumstances.
Powell was also pleased with Baird's performance, touting the strides the sophomore had taken.
"If he can keep progressing and stay focused and confident, I think he can be better than even he thinks he is," Powell said.
Though the Red and Blue put up better times than they had historically, they still fell six places from last fall. Opponents such as Wisconsin, the eventual winner, and Iona increased the level of competition at this year's race.
"The difference was the caliber of teams coming," Baird said.
The stakes were also higher this year because the Quakers had lost exceptional seniors Reid McEwen, Brian Goldberg and Larry Contrella to graduation.
"We came in as the underdogs," Baird said, "We lost our top three guys and had a burden to fulfill."
Brian Trembley ran a 24:58, Kevin Sullivan clocked in at 25:11 and Sean McGinley rounded out Penn's top five at 25:14.
The Quakers will focus the next few weeks of practice on teamwork on the course, hoping to close the gap between individual times.
"We have a lot of potential and could really do some damage in the Ivy League," Baird said.
