No treats for Track at Heptagonals

It was a frightful Halloween for the Penn women's and men's cross country teams.

The Quakers fell short at the Ivy League Heptagonals on Friday in Van Cortlandt Park in New York, as the men finished in eighth place with 193 points, while the women came in sixth with 179 points.

Sophomore Luke Grau, who finished 27th overall with a time of 25:33.3, led the Red and Blue on the men's side. Senior Leah Brogan paced the Quakers' women, coming in at 18:08.4, good for 13th place.

Dartmouth senior Ben True finished first overall for the men, with a time of 23:59.6. Princeton junior Liz Costello crossed the finish line first for the women, with a time of 16:59.9.

Princeton dominated the day for the second straight year, taking first place in both team competitions.

Although Penn expected the Tigers to be competitive, they knew their men's and women's teams could have done better against the rest of the field.

"We did not run well, simply put," men's coach Charlie Powell said. "I can't sugarcoat it. We did not run the last two miles well. Something did not click. You have to be able to close the race."

Instead, the men found themselves in every coach's worst nightmare, in a situation where multiple team members all had a bad day. They'd been focusing on Heps, so it was an emotional setback to finish so poorly.

"If I had to sum it up, it would be disappointment," sophomore Chris Baird said. "Cross country is one of those sports where you take out what you put in. With our team, we have put in a lot of work."

The women's side felt similarly frustrated.

"We knew we could have run a little better," said Gwen Harris, the women's coach. "With second, third, fourth and fifth place all being so tight, though, any little mistake would put you in jeopardy."

Baird, for one, is thankful that the team can redeem itself at the NCAA Regionals at Princeton on Nov. 15.

"We can prove to ourselves and everyone else that it was just a fluke and that we are capable of more."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.