Trinity, Princeton, Yale and Harvard.
Since 2005-06, the men's squash team's view has been unchanged: Above the Quakers, that elite quadrumvirate. Below, every other team in the nation.
Penn - fifth-place finishers at the past two national championships - is tired of sitting on the outside looking in. The players know that this year, those top four slots are not as safe as they have been in the past.
"At Ivy Scrimmages this year, Harvard fell pretty badly," senior Parker Justi said. "There's going to be some battles against some unexpected teams this year, but at the same time we'll all be looking to claim that No. 4 spot with Harvard dropping."
Of course, a scrimmage is a scrimmage, and the team isn't reading too much into it. The Red and Blue lost to Cornell there, too, but even more importantly, they lost their front row seat to the "Big 4." No. 5 Rochester and the No. 6 Big Red each jumped five slots in the preseason rankings to bump the Quakers down to No. 7.
Penn and Cornell can swap spots, though, when they face off this weekend.
"The rankings at the beginning of the year every year are a little bit off," Justi said. "We're looking to upset those rankings, because I'm upset."
That will be easier said then done. After its top two players, Lee Rosen and Spencer Kurn, graduated this past year, Penn will have to rely on its freshmen for success.
Two of them - Thomas Mattsson and Trevor McGuinness - will be immediately thrown into the fire. Although coach Craig Thorpe-Clark would not reveal his lineup, he mentioned that those two will be playing in the Quakers' top three.
"They both have international-level experience," he said. "I feel that the team concept is something new for them, but I feel good about the class we have."
And if nothing else, as newcomers to the collegiate squash scene, the freshmen may not see the top four schools as unbeatable.
"I think a top-three finish is completely realistic," Mattson said. "We just have to all come to practice, work hard, work together and know that we can finish in the top three."
Like every year, the Quakers will play a competitive schedule, facing eight of the other top ten teams. But Thorpe-Clark anticipates more parity this year than usual.
"Anywhere from three through eight is really very competitive," he said. "We stand a chance of improving up the rankings, but there's going to be a lot of close and exciting matches this year, more so than last year."
