2013 Iron Quaker Awards

Offseason workouts are now finished for Penn football, and although the real heavy lifting for the 2013 Quakers won't take place until this fall, quite a bit of it is already over - thanks to the seventh annual Iron Quaker competition.

Held at the Weiss Pavilion, the competition once again found the Quakers divided into three position-based groups - skill (RB, WR, DB), semi (QB, LB, TE) and big (DL, OL) - vying for awards given to those who lift the most weight in each group.

The results below give an indication of the Quakers' athleticism as offseason conditioning ends and which players are positioned to look the best in their new throwback alternate jerseys.

Highest Total Lift                                                                                                                         Skill – Dexter Davis (1140)                                                                                                                       Semi – David Park (1245)                                                                                                            Big – Matt Kiefer (1280)

Highest Clean Skill – Kyle Wilcox (325) Semi – David Park (375) Big – Matt Kiefer (365)

Fastest 40-yard Dash Skill – Kenny Thomas (4.49) Semi – Sam Chwarzynski (4.69) Big – Joe Naji (4.79)

34 players in football's class of 2017

Coming off of their third Ivy League Championship in four seasons, Penn football adds 34 players in its class of 2017.

As is standard in coach Al Bagnoli's system, running backs get a lot of use, and this class reflects that, with six running backs added to the mix.

In attempt both to add depth to a defensive line that had trouble getting to the quarterback at times last season, finishing tied for fifth in the Ivy League with 19 sacks, as well as replace the production that former captain Brandon Copeland brought on the D-line, Penn brings in seven defensive linemen, the most of any position in the class.

In addition to adding depth, Penn also added interesting pieces that Bagnoli will try to use in creative ways.

Danny Ferens comes in as a wide receiver after playing quarterback and strong safety in high school. Even from under center, he showed explosive ability with his legs reminiscent of Billy Ragone.

Meanwhile, Alek Torgersen enters as one of two quarterbacks added to the roster. In addition to taking the ball under center, he also is listed as a punter. With no other punter being brought in to replace Scott Lopano, if the team decides to go with a freshman, the job may go to Torgersen or to Aron Morgan, the other specialist in the class of 2017.

Preston Troutt signs on to play for Penn basketball

For those of you who thought Jerome Allen was done bringing in players for the class of 2017, think again.

Somewhat the forgotten member of Penn's incoming freshman class, Trinity Christian Academy senior guard Preston Troutt has signed on to play for the Quakers this fall.

Troutt committed to the Red and Blue last fall and played well early in the season but missed the second half of Trinity Christian's season with an injury.

Troutt's signing brings Allen's class to a total of five players, with Troutt joining Tony Bagtas, Dave Winfield Jr., Matthew Howard and Dylan Jones.

Where Troutt fits in with the Quakers next season remains to be seen, as the team has a  plethora of guards for the 2013-14 season, including Bagtas, Howard, Miles Cartwright and Tony Hicks.

But regardless of where he fits in, Troutt will be a freshman this fall, becoming the next member of Penn basketball.

A letter: 115 years of ice hockey at Penn

Before finals began, about two weeks ago, The Daily Pennsylvanian published two stories about the history of varsity hockey at Penn and if there is any potential for a program in the future. But there is much more history to hockey at Penn than can be published in an article or two. Bob Kitrinos sent in the detailed letter below sharing a more in-depth look at the 115-year history of the hockey program at Penn and where alumni and current students now stand. Kitrinos was a kid during some of the varsity hockey team's best years in the early 1970s. He worked at the Class of 1923 Rink and volunteered for the team in 1972. He has kept in touch with many alumni and is "the de facto historian because [he] did the research into the team's history," he wrote in an email. He takes part in a large alumni Facebook group that has gained many members from Penn's hockey community. Check out the letter he sent below:

Surprise!  Ice hockey is alive and well at the University of Pennsylvania.  Although a financially strapped athletic department cut the varsity program in 1978, club teams have continued the University’s hockey tradition for the past 35 years. The University has had a love-hate relationship with the hockey program for the last hundred years.  Penn’s leadership has historically promoted football and basketball. Yet in the mid-1970s, the ice hockey team often outdrew the basketball team.  In 1978, the cash-strapped university cut hockey, gymnastics, golf and badminton, prompting students to stage a four-hour sit-in at College Hall.  The University responded by agreeing to keep gymnastics, golf and badminton, but wouldn’t vacate its decision to drop varsity hockey.  This wasn’t the first time the university cut the hockey program.  For lack of love or money, the University shut the program down five times over the last century. Each time it came back or persisted.

It didn’t have to be that way.  Penn was one of the pioneers of ice hockey in the United States and among the first college hockey teams.  Although the official university history dates the program to 1898, Penn actually fielded a competitive hockey team two years earlier in 1896-1897.  Four Canadian students, led by George Washington Orton, formed the nucleus of the team.  At Penn today, Orton is just remembered as a track star; in Canada, he is best known for winning Canada’s first Olympic Gold Medal in track. But Orton was a diehard hockey player first and developed a commitment to institutionalizing ice hockey at Penn and in Philadelphia.

Although hockey in America was initially considered a novelty – a fad – student and community interest prompted the university to officially sponsor the team in fall 1898.  Another of the Canadians was Stanley Willett, who played on the 1896 Stanley Cup-winning Montreal Victorias before coming to Penn. By most accounts, Willet was the top hockey player in the United States when he played for Penn.

In those early years, the team lacked an indoor skating rink to practice or play, so it used several local ponds when they were frozen and played their games in New York City. In December 1897, however, the West Park Ice Palace at 52nd and Jefferson finally opened, giving the team a home. The program thrived until the end of the 1901 season when the Ice Palace burned down in a mysterious fire. It would be 20 years before a new arena replaced it.

After a seven-year hiatus, a new team was fielded for the 1908-1909 season. Its captain was none other than Bill Hollenbach – best known as a star running back for the Penn football team. Playing as a roving team, it traveled to cities such as New York City, Pittsburg and Cleveland to compete. The University finally pulled the plug in 1911.

During the First World War, several Penn hockey players would go on to become war heroes, while some soldiers would later attend Penn and become heroes on the ice. Colonel George Henry Rankin Gosman was a member of the original Penn hockey team. After graduation, he became a US Army surgeon. About 20 years later during the First World War, Henry ran a Corps level Army hospital that saved the lives of thousands of wounded soldiers. He also invented the concept of evacuating wounded soldiers from the front lines using aircraft. Gosman is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.  Frank Steiner was a student at Penn when the war broke out and served as an enlisted soldier rising to the rank of lieutenant in the 140th Division. After the war, he returned to Penn and played hockey. Don Brett served as a fighter pilot during the war.

Even with the First World War raging, Penn students pressed to bring ice hockey back to the University. In January 1917, 500 students signed a petition calling for the University to bring back a hockey program.  A new ice rink was contemplated for the expanding Penn campus at the corner of 33rd and Walnuts Streets, where Hill House stands today. The driving force behind the ice hockey program's revival was none other than George Orton who, twenty years after playing hockey at Penn, was now both a top figure in the athletic department, as well as a local sportsman. After the First World War ended, Dr. Orton convinced the University to resume sponsorship of an ice hockey program and a new team was established for the 1919-1920 season, playing its games on the road until the new arena was built. With Orton's prodding, a local entrepreneur built a new Ice Palace on Market Street between 45th and 46th streets as a multi-use facility and the first hockey game was played on 14 February 1921. It would later be renamed the Philadelphia Arena and serve as Penn's hockey team’s home until 1968.

After the war, Penn's star forward was Percy Wanamaker, the youngest of three renowned hockey-playing brothers from Melrose, Massachusetts. The oldest – Elmer – had played for Harvard, while the middle brother – Clarence – played for Dartmouth and then coached Yale's hockey team. Like Ernest Hemingway, Percy served as an ambulance driver on the front lines during the war. Gassed by the Germans near Verdun, he lost use of an arm for a period as well as vision in his right eye. After the Armistice, he partially recovered; enough to play hockey at Penn.

Unable to devote the necessary time and focus to the hockey program, Dr. Orton recruited one of the top amateur players in the United States, Frank "Coddy" Winters, to lead the Penn team. Winters, who today is enshrined in the US Hockey Hall of Fame, was unable to turn the team into a winner. Dissatisfied with the team's performance and determined to establish Penn as a top college hockey team, Orton hired Eddie Powers – one of the most prominent amateur coaches in North America – to head the Penn hockey and lacrosse teams. Powers coached the Penn team for two seasons before becoming a scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Today, the Eddie Powers Trophy is awarded to the leading scorer in the Ontario Hockey League, Canada's top major junior hockey association. Sadly, Powers’ biography makes no mention of his two years coaching Penn.  After five losing seasons, the University cut the hockey program in 1924, only to change their mind in 1928.  With the onset of the Great Depression, the university dropped the program for third time.

The program made yet another comeback in 1939, notching a 5-1 record in the Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic League. Members of that team included George Wharton Pepper III, the son of a Senator, as well as Cliff Engler – the tallest tackle to ever play football at Penn. For the next three years hockey proved to be a winning sport at Penn and the program hung on until three months after Pearl Harbor.

A new generation of Penn hockey player emerged as war heroes between 1942 and 1945. George Pepper served as a Navy officer on the USS Claxon and helped save lives and keep the ship afloat after it was hit by a kamikaze attack; Ted Stehle served ran an anti-aircraft battery on a Liberty ship and helped save his crewmates after the ship was sunk by a Japanese torpedo; Allan Hunter served as a tank commander in the 11th Armored Division; Dick Sheble flew British Spitfires and P-38 Lightning fighters over Europe, while Lt Chandler Weeks lost his life in a Normandy hedgerow.

No effort was made to revive the Penn hockey program after World War II.  In 1957 a Penn junior and a self-described hockey nut from northern New Jersey, Ron Grober, reached out to fellow students to form a team.  Demonstrating what a young man with a vision and determination can accomplish, Ron managed to procure some old Penn football uniforms and money from the University to outfit a basic team. He also prevailed on a local professional hockey player, Nick “Rocky” Rukavina of the Eastern Hockey League Philadelphia Ramblers, to mentor and coach them.  Just 5'5” yet tough as nails, Rocky had a heart of gold, donating his time to work with the brawny assortment of enthusiastic preppies in the 1956-1957 and 1957-1958 seasons.

Student interest in the sport yet again convinced the university in 1958 to underwrite the program. A graduate student, Jack Cleveland, was induced to serve as the team's official coach. With growing university support, Coach Cleveland would lay the foundation the modern hockey program at Penn.  Despite consecutive losing seasons, the university stuck with the program and four years later when Cleveland left the team, the university opted for a younger, more dynamic leader at the helm. They induced Ron Ryan, college hockey’s all-time highest scorer, to take over running the team. Ryan remained at Penn for two years, but even he wasn't able to post winning seasons. Ryan left Penn to coach Merrimack and eventually went on to become the President of the Philadelphia Flyers. Less known is that Ryan is the father of Hollywood actress Blanchard Ryan.

In 1964, the university brought in Jim Salfi to coach the team. Salfi was a diminutive, no-nonsense defenseman at St. Lawrence University, who brought an expert understanding of the game.  Like Rukavina, he was of working class Canadian stock and brought a level of commitment and intensity to the team that few of the preppies who comprised it had ever experienced. Over the next few years, the new coach, drilled groups of prep school athletes into increasingly capable teams.

Salfi's charge was to improve the play so that it could become a Division I varsity team and the icemen posted a 10-10-2 record his first year. He cultivated allies among the faculty, administrators and alumni, while recruiting increasingly talented players from Canada and American prep schools. Among the first Canadians he recruited were two talented players from Sudbury, Ontario: Dan Pierce to lead the offense and Glenn Foreman to head the defense.

Most of the early teams, however, were comprised of New England prep school graduates. An early goaltender was David Gens, who would go onto become a doctor and was the attending Trauma Center Physician at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC when President Ronald Reagan was shot in March 1981. Another young goalie was John Rousmaniere, who would later write the sailors' bible: "The Annapolis Book of Seamanship." Other players include Andy Daly, who would become a ski resort mogul and the mayor of Vail, Colorado, while defenseman Jim Robbins would become President of Cox Communications. Statistician Neal Shore is now one of the country’s most prominent chemists. The team's manager was Joe Rascoff, became the Rolling Stones business manager. Others would become highly successful businessmen. Penn hockey's entrance into Division One varsity hockey was realized in 1967, ten years after Ron Grober and Rocky Rukavina revived hockey at the university. This was the first uninterrupted ten years of hockey at Penn since the inception of the program in the late 19th Century. Hockey was here to stay, although few knew it at the time.  Even with Division One varsity status, the position of the hockey program was precarious, as Coach Salfi had to beg for resources to operate the team. In those days Penn was not the well endowed, leading university that it is today. Many students were commuters and the university itself struggled for funds. With football and basketball the prestige sports, ice hockey remained low on the list of athletic department priorities. The failure of hockey to become institutionalized at Penn and the absence of an NHL team kept local interest in the sport small. In the mid-1960s the hockey was a relatively unknown sport in Philadelphia and the fan base was small. The arrival of the Philadelphia Flyers franchise in 1967 would lead to a rapid growth in its popularity but Philadelphia's love affair with the Broad Street Bullies was still several years away.

During the developmental years (1967-1970), the team suffered some brutal defeats: losing to Harvard 1-15, 0-12; to RPI 2-18; to Brown 2-11, 3-19; to Cornell 1-18.  Rival school newspapers ridiculed the team, treating it as a doormat. Harvard and Yale seemed to take particular relish in disparaging the Penn hockey team. Coach Salfi and his team persevered, in part by playing a tough physical game, exacting retribution on their detractors.

In February 1968, the Yale Daily News described the Elis near mugging in Philadelphia:

"It took a brilliant 37-save performance by Yale goalie John Cole to allow the Elis to escape from the dingy, antiquated Philadelphia Arena...There were no fights and nowhere near as much scuffling as occurred in the previous game between the two teams. But the Quakers who used their fists extensively in the first period, played like spoiled brats throughout. Again, Quaker defenseman Chris Larsen was the prime offender. Larsen shoved, swung his stick, swore, made obscene gestures, and harangued the inept officials."

Larsen would prove to be the “Scourge of the Elies. “ The next year, the Yale Daily News singled out the hardnosed defenseman from Welland, Ontario:  "… the Quakers began to revert to some of the bush-league play which has characterized all of their previous encounters with the Elis.  Particularly egregious was Penn defenseman Chris Larsen, whose play was in the best tradition of the Long Island Ducks (COMMENT: an old Eastern Hockey League team known for its aggressive physical play). His stick and elbows were too often applied to Eli players throughout the game, and several times he came near to starting a brawl by his aggressiveness..." But by spring 1969 even the Harvard Johns began to see the team as improving. A sports reporter for Harvard Crimson backhandedly acknowledged the change, saying: "Going to the University of Pennsylvania for the athletic program used to be like going to Wool-worth's to buy a suit."

At a reception in 1967 Salfi met Howard Butcher III, a prominent local businessman and philanthropist who was especially supportive of his alma mater. As a Wharton undergraduate, Butcher had played hockey with Percy Wanamaker and later served as a manager on the hockey team in the early 1920s, along with Gordon Hattersley, whose son would also attend Penn and found the Hattersley Society--which today recognizes Wharton's benefactors. A bond developed between Salfi and Mr. Butcher, and the latter rallied his classmates to support construction of an ice hockey rink on the university campus. Butcher raised $3.2 million for the construction of the rink--largely from his own pocket.

With the Class of 1923 Ice Rink on campus, the hockey team finally had a concrete bunker to call home. No action did more to institutionalize hockey at Penn than placing the rink on the campus.  With a new rink and growing sense of optimism, Salfi carefully molded the Penn hockey team into a competitive Division I team. He recruited a first rate goaltender in John Marks and a solid front line with Canadians Tom Davis and Sam Gellard, and a talented American, Tim Cutter.

The turning point for the program came in January 1970 with Penn's stunning overtime upset of top-ranked Harvard in Philadelphia.  The team posted a winning 14-11 record in 1971 (7th in the ECAC Division One and fourth in the Ivy League) and a 15-9 record in 1972 (fifth in the ECAC and third in the Ivy League). By the early 1970s the team was playing to packed houses in its 3000-seat arena. Games in those days were social occasions on campus with an eclectic group of fans ranging from students in blue jeans to alumni wearing formal attire, with the Penn band keeping the full house, players and fans pumped up.

After eight years Salfi had shaped Penn hockey into a Division One contender, realizing his dream and that of the hockey team's supporters: The Friends of Pennsylvania Hockey. Between 15 January and 4 March 1972, the varsity hockey went 11-3, the season culminating in a crushing 8-3 victory over top-seated Boston College, ruining BC’s legendary coach, Snooks Kelley last game before retirement. The victory shocked the east coast college hockey establishment and earned Penn a trip to the ECAC Tournament in Boston. Forty years later the players from that team still speak of the excitement of making it into the ECAC tournament...completing the team's right of passage, as well as stifling the detractors. Salfi left the program in spring 1972 to accept a position as head coach at RPI, Having taken the team from club to varsity, from losers to winners.

Boston University (BU) freshman coach Bob Crocker replaced Salfi at the helm.  It was no secret that Crocker had expected to succeed Jack Kelley as head coach of BU's much-vaunted hockey team. When that didn't happen, Crocker understandably left BU, and quickly accepted Penn's offer. After coaching in New England’s hockey hotbed, Penn must have seemed like a provincial hockey backwater. It was. He was also not prepared to battle for funding with the athletic department or hustle for recruits from the New England prep schools, skills Salfi had developed into an art form. Still, Crocker inherited a solid team group of over-achieving players molded by Salfi into potential champions. The Crocker era witnessed a landmark event:  the creation of the first women’s hockey team.  Set-up by freshman coach Larry Davenport, 40 years later Davenport – the father of two daughters – counts this as one of his top coaching achievements.

The 1972-1973 season under Crocker was the best ever experienced by a Penn hockey club. A 16-9-2 record placed the team fourth in the ECAC Division One and tied for fourth in the Ivy League. It also led to a second trip to the ECAC tournament in Boston.  The team's stunning 7-3 defeat of BU in the first round was as sweet to the much-maligned Penn team as it was personal vindication for Crocker. It demonstrated that the previous year wasn’t a fluke and remains the high water mark of ice hockey at Penn.  It put the team one victory away from the ECAC finals--a win they didn't get, losing to Boston College in the semi-finals. Still, almost a dozen players from this team would go on to play professional hockey, mostly in the World Hockey Association. One, Paul Stewart, would play in the NHL and become an NHL referee with more than 1000 NHL games under his belt.

Others have written about the decline and then demise of hockey at Penn, but like the vestige of ancient culture hidden behind a contemporary society, ice hockey has persisted at Penn as a club sport.  There’s no shame in this; hockey was a club sport for all but 11 of the last 115 years.  Through the club team, the hockey legacy at Penn has continued uninterrupted for the last 35 years – quite an accomplishment given the ups and downs of the program in its first 80 years.  The undergraduates and graduate students who make up the team walk down Woodland Walk and Walnut Street, skates and stick in hand, wearing the Penn jersey with the same pride their predecessors did. Although hangouts such as Lorna's and the Onion are long gone, Smokey Joe's and the New Deck Tavern are there, albeit in new locations, run by the children of the owners known so well to the team in the 1960s and 1970s. The program had a revival about 10 years ago when the team made the playoffs multiple years in a row and won the Mid-Atlantic College Hockey Association championship. One club player, Stu Seigel, from the early 1980s club team, went on to become an owner of the Florida Panthers.  Also, just this past season, the Penn women’s ice hockey team was a top contender in its league.

Alumni support is key to the success of any college sport and the current hockey team’s alumni board has been pro-active in reaching out to former players. For the last eight years it has hosted an annual alumni game at Homecoming.  In November 2005, a group of players from Coach Salfi’s 1960s team got together at the University to toast and roast their former coach, as well as reconnect after many years.

Alumni outreach accelerated in 2012 with the creation of a Penn Hockey Alumni page on Facebook.  The group tracked down over 200 former players, managers and coaches. This led to a grand alumni reunion in October 2012, with 60 former players, managers and coaches – spanning 55 years of Penn ice hockey – meeting at the Class of 1923 Ice Rink to celebrate the 115-year university's hockey heritage. This included more than a dozen players from the 1972 and 1973 teams, many of whom had not been back to Penn since the 1980s. They subsequently raised over $25,000 to support the club team … not bad for a program that most people think died 35 years ago. Another reunion is planned for 9 November at the Class of 1923 Rink and many more former players, managers and coaches have indicated they plan to attend.

Bob Kitrinos

Washington, D.C.

Q & A with WKCR Sports Director Sam Tydings

At the center of the Columbia football situation has been the racist and homophobic tweets that WKCR, Columbia’s student radio station, uncovered and posted shortly after the arrest of Chad Washington. Here is my interview with WKCR’s Sports Director (and also my brother) Sam Tydings, who worked with both his coworkers at WKCR and with others to both find and display to the public the objectionable tweets from the football players. (I also interviewed him in January in Behind Enemy Lines to talk about Columbia taking on Penn in men’s basketball.)

Daily Pennsylvanian: What was your initial reaction when you found out about the arrest?

DP: So was that what drove you to look the players up on social media?

ST: Well, the first thing that really drove me to find out what was going on on social media is that on the Columbia Spectator, there were comments on one of the posts about the hate crime and someone copied a tweet from Tom Callahan, an offensive lineman on the team, and it was anti-Semitic. So I wanted to look and see what else was this guy saying on social media and as I was clicking over to see one of his other tweets, his account got deleted. I thought, “well, that was pretty strange,” but let’s look into some other people who were on the same floor as Chad Washington and they started deleted their accounts.

So I thought there was something weird going on and that’s what made me want to look into everyone on the football team and what are these players saying and why do they want to hide their accounts.

DP: What are the major takeaways from the tweets from your perspective?

ST: That there is a real homophobia problem between the players that we found. We ended up finding 18 public accounts and 12 of them had something pretty objectionable on there. Most of it had to do with homophobia rather than racist remarks against Asians or anti-Semitic remarks.

And the other takeaway I have is that athletics really dropped the ball on this. That we were able to find so many of these accounts from following the Columbia Lions football account or [head coach] Pete Mangurian’s account. That Columbia athletics knew what these players were saying. They should have known this was going on and either willfully ignored it and they were accepting it or were too dumb to properly use the internet. There really is not much other explanation.

DP: So would you say that this is an indictment of the football culture, the athletic department as a whole, or just this small group of football players?

ST: Obviously, I don’t think it is just these 12 players and that if you had all 100 players and their twitter accounts public, we would have found way more than just the 12 players we found. But I really don’t think you can judge the entire football team based off just this. I think there has to be some middle ground with this.

The biggest problem with this for me was with the administration and athletics. That this is an organization that takes so much effort into watching what the student media tweets about Columbia athletics, whether it is WKCR sports or the Columbia Spectator or Bwog.com, and to have such attention be paid to what we tweet and to miss your captain quarterback [Sean Brackett] who is the face of all your publicity using the f-word against homosexuals is really disgusting. They really misplaced their priorities obviously.

DP: What has been the reception on campus the players, the athletic department and everyone at WKCR?

ST: There has been a lot of backlash towards the athletic department. This is something that they will have to deal with now. They didn’t put out a public statement until [Thursday] at 2:00 pm after we broke everything at 5:00 pm yesterday. They continuously refused comment from us and it has gotten a lot of traction, especially on campus and now it’s starting to turn into the national media. Hopefully, this will increase the exposure on this a little bit.

As for us, we’ve gotten a lot of really great feedback – people congratulating us for doing all this work – and some negative feedback. I’ve gotten some Facebook messages from people I’ve never met before who said some not-nice things. We’ve gotten some backlash from athletes but we aren’t out here to indict all athletes. I really love Columbia athletics. I really think it is more of a problem with athletics and the administration and how they managed all this and the athletes themselves.

DP: What do you think the athletic department will ultimately do in response to the whole situation and what do you think it should do?

ST: First of all, it really is just not my place to be saying what I think they should do. I don’t think that is for me to decide at all. Though ultimately I don’t think they will actually do anything of substance. I think some players will probably be suspended or kicked off the team and they will probably make people admitted to Columbia sit through a social media seminar which no one will pay attention to. I don’t think there is going to be a serious change unless this scandal really blows up and people start calling for the heads of certain people in the athletic department.

DP: Do you think this corresponds in general to the whole Mike Rice situation? There was the homophobic language he used and it kind of relates to this in a way as well as the whole athletic department hiding that. So do you think this is a trend and how do you think it relates?

ST: The difference between this and Rutgers was that with Rutgers, that was the coach directly saying stuff to the players during practices. I think that is different from what we have here, especially since Pete Mangurian just posted a blog post that basically said he had no idea this was happening, which makes sense to me because he personally doesn’t upload to his account and check what is being said on there. Usually, it is staffs in the football organization [who upload to the account].

In parallel to the whole Mike Rice thing, it has to do a lot with administration. The administration knew this was going on and they did nothing to stop it, like the Rutgers AD [Tim Pernetti] who got fired for that. He saw the tape and did nothing to stop it except for a three-game suspension. Certainly, he did not take enough of an action. And with Columbia, obviously I don’t think Dianne Murphy should be sitting in her office all day looking at tweets of Columbia football players but certainly there are or should be people in the football administration whose job it is to make sure that the kids aren’t saying something incredibly stupid on social media and when they do, they have them take it down, they have the athlete say why it was wrong, and then offer an apology. So far, we have gotten no apology from the players, just the blog post from Mangurian. And all the players have done has been delete their accounts or lock their accounts or tweet something about how God is going to get them through this.

But it is seriously disgusting that these players said these horrible things online and then come after us for having the audacity to make it public when you post some stuff on your public twitter account.

DP: What do you think the coaching staff’s responsibility is here? Do you think they will be punished?

ST: I definitely do not think that Pete Mangurian will lose his job over this neither do I think he should. It really should not be the job of a Division I football coach to see what his players are doing on social media. However, I really wouldn’t be surprised if one of Mangurian’s underlings or Murphy’s underlings in the football SID’s office loses their positions over this. If you are in media for Columbia University and part of your job is to control the message your students put out, then you need to be on top of what your football players are saying. And that means all of them – from the best player to the worst player – because on Saturdays, they are all wearing Columbia University across their chest on games that are now often nationally televised.

And now, that might be the story. If one of these players ends up staying on the team and Columbia has a game on NBC Sports or the YES Network, the announcers are going to be talking about so and so using homophobic slurs on twitter instead of so and so having three sacks in the game. And that is too bad but it is something Columbia should have known about and more importantly, should have done something about.

DP: Do you think that this has an effect and leads to a trend in college athletics of a lot of athletes getting off of social media or making more professional accounts?

ST: I really can’t speak to what it is going to be on a larger scale because Columbia is D-1 but football isn’t a priority here. I’m sure LSU and Alabama and Stanford and others have people who keep real tabs on what their players are doing. And they are not as bad at it as what Darlene Camacho and Dianne Murphy have done in their job here so far.

I think on the Columbia side, the trend will to have kids with locked accounts. If people are on social media, they are just going to be sending messages to other people and you aren’t really going to have a public face of Columbia football interacting on social media, at least for next year. And I really hope that doesn’t spread to the rest of Columbia athletics because you have guys like [men’s basketball players] Brian Barbour and Grant Mullins who are great on there.The whole baseball team is on there and is fun to follow. And they actually win stuff, which is crazy for Columbia sports teams. I really hope that if there is this trend of hiding your tweets instead of just not being an idiot with them, that it is just football and doesn’t spread to the rest of Columbia athletics and the other athletes who are a lot more fun to talk to.

DP: With the baseball team just winning the Ivy League Championship Series, what do you think about the timing of all of this with how this is completely overshadowing that accomplishment for Columbia athletics?

ST: It sucks. As someone who covered the baseball’s ride to the championship and the championship series had two really great games. One was David Speer going up against a great Dartmouth lineup. He had 12 strikeouts and they got out of a jam in the top of the 10^th and came back to win the game in extra innings. In the second game, they were down to their final eight outs and they had a six-run rally with eight straight guys getting on base.

That should be the story around Columbia this week. We should feel good with Columbia baseball going to the NCAA Tournament. We’re going to graduate soon and it is a great time for everyone. And now, it has turned into this. Not that to any extent we should have sat on the story because it would have ruined a nice story, but it sucks that all of this had to come out specifically right at a time when the baseball team deserves a lot of praise.

The DP's Graduation Issue Out Now

Grab The DP's Grad Issue, out now, with senior goodbye columns from six now officially former DPOSTMers, Dau Jok traveling to Nigeria for the We Play To Win foundation and Mike Tomlin reflecting on his coaching career while visiting Penn.

And check out The Red & Blue in Review, where we offer snippets of insight into our athletes, coaches and teams of the year, which are also listed after the jump.

Men's Athlete of the Year-Michael Mills                                                                             Women's Athlete of the Year-Alyssa Baron

Columbia Football Suddenly Looks A Lot More Offensive

Columbia football has been in a world of hurt for a long time now, with a shameful .323 winning percentage (71-147-2) since 1991.

But what's really shameful for Columbia football has been the last 48 hours. Late Tuesday night, NBC New York reported that sophomore defensive lineman Chad Washington was charged with aggravated harassment after he allegedly assaulted and threatened another student with racial slurs.

According to the criminal complaint, the incident occurred at 1:45 a.m. on Sunday. Detective Michael Diaz of the NYPD's bias incident investigations unit says the victim "observed defendant with five other individuals in front of the above mentioned location and hears someone in the group state in substance: 'Yellow fever. Chinky eyes. Asian mother fucker.'"

The victim then said Washington followed him and grabbed his shirt collar, pushing him against the wall. Washington allegedly said, "You're an Asian pussy. Why don't you hit yourself you Asian pussy."

And then it got worse for Columbia football. WKCR, Columbia's radio station, compiled a gallery of 46 tweets ranging from homophobic to racist and everything offensive in between, dating back as far as June 2011, six months before Pete Mangurian replaced Norries Wilson as head coach of the Lions.

On Oct. 16 (three days after the Lions lost to Penn), freshman wide receiver Scooter Hollis tweeted, “That’s the last homo tweet you get today,” in response to a Twitter user who had posted, "Damn I feel so misunderstood." On Dec. 6, then-junior quarterback and former team captain Sean Brackett tweeted at another user, "shut up fagasaurus rex." And on March 7 of last year, Washington himself tweeted, "When Asian ppl fall asleep in class the teachers can't tell! Lol".

Not surprisingly, some of the players have been deleting their Twitter accounts.

More surprisingly, Washington had written an op-ed piece in March for the Columbia Spectator arguing that the school's student-athletes deserved more respect on campus. "Do not question our authenticity of our status until you take the time to immerse yourself in the athletics of Columbia."

And once we got a little more immersed, Columbia had to respond. School administrators sent a statement to students Thursday in response to the alleged hate crime and the offensive tweets. Director of Athletics Dianne Murphy and Mangurian wrote a letter to the community regarding the players' remarks, with Mangurian also posting on his blog Thursday evening.

More to follow in a Q&A with Sam Tydings of WKCR, who helped assemble the damning gallery of tweets and has been covering this story from the very beginning.

Ryan Deitrich Jumps to Duke

Former Penn senior outfielder Ryan Deitrich is now a Duke Blue Devil.

In 2013, Deitrich led the Ivy League in batting average and on base percentage, and tied for first in the conference in hits with teammate freshman infielder Mike Vilardo and Dartmouth sophomore pitcher Matt Parisi. Deitrich missed his entire freshman year at Penn to injury and now joins a Duke team that finished last in the ACC Coastal Division in 2013.

Deitrich's move comes less than a week after John Cole was let go as Penn baseball manager. Thanks in part to Deitrich, Penn had a solid offensive season in 2013, finishing second in slugging percentage and third in on base percentage, runs scored, RBIs and hits. Still, Deitrich leaves behind an offense that should prove quite capable with Vilardo, Austin Bossart, Ryan Mincher and Mitch Montaldo all coming back in 2014.

John Cole out as manager for Penn baseball

After a disappointing finish to the season for Penn baseball, the program has decided to make a change at the top.

Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky announced Friday that coach John Cole will not have his contract renewed.

This comes on the heels of a 7-13 Ivy League season for the Red and Blue, who lost ten of their 12 games in division.

Heading into division play, the Quakers were 5-3, just one game out of first place in the Gehrig division but the team slipped three games to both Cornell and Princeton before being swept by Columbia.

Cole went 143-178-1 in his eight seasons as the manager for Penn. During his tenure, Cole led the team to one Gehrig division crown, while finishing second on three occasions. However, back-to-back last place finishes ultimately help lead to Penn letting him go.

Copeland discusses NFL signing

In between a final exam and a final paper, I sat down with former Penn defensive end Brandon Copeland, who signed with the Baltimore Ravens at the end of this weekend's NFL Draft. We talked about his signing, the long road ahead, his new position as a middle linebacker and much more.

All three Penn football players who had NFL hopes will go to rookie mini camps Thursday through Sunday. In addition to Copeland, OL Joe Bonadies was invited to the Minnesota Vikings camp and punter Scott Lopano was invited to kick at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers camp. Originally a Southlake, Tex., native, Lopano's family moved to Tampa a year and a half ago.

Below are some highlights from my conversation with Copeland:

Has it all set in yet? 

Not yet.

Hopefully never … I don’t really want it to sink in, I’m not trying to get comfortable at all because one, coming from the Ivy League, you’re always going to be fighting. You’re always going to be expected to do everything perfect, you don’t really have a margin for error. And two, no contract is guaranteed in the NFL except for the first few rounds and things like that. So hopefully I’ll never be comfortable with it and knowing myself, obviously tomorrow I’ll be different than I am today, but knowing myself I’ll never be comfortable with it. I’ll continue to have a chip on my shoulder. Sometimes it hits me, like right now I’m technically an NFL player, but I have not proven or done anything to actually earn that title yet.

During the last round they were calling and they said, 'As soon as this thing finishes up we want to try to get on the phone with your agent and work out a deal.' So obviously I’m happy.

Yeah, I heard from a couple other teams and mainly the Packers, but this I guess for me is the dream.

Yeah, you basically decide … Obviously the advantage of being drafted is a better signing bonus or a few more thousand dollars more, but you still could be cut. When we go to minicamp this weekend, everyone’s on the same playing field. Obviously the first rounders can feel a little bit more secure, a little more comfortable coming in, probably more relaxed. But after that it’s kind of, we’re all just fighting to make the team. We’re all going to be the same people, some people have a few more dollars I guess.

He went to my rival high school, Gerrard Sheppard. He went to UConn then he transferred to Towson. Me and him played basketball, we grew up together. Our families are real close, so that’s real cool. We saw each other at the local pro day, we haven’t gotten a chance to talk yet, but we’ll see each other this weekend. But like I said, he’s a family friend, we’ve been friends since we were little. We used to play rec league basketball together at Owings Mills since probably 8 or 9, and me and him used to always battle against each other.

Yeah, inside linebacker. After that workout I did with Coach Monachino [linebackers coach], he said that he likes me at that fit.

Throughout the last couple weeks, everything I’ve been doing up until this point is to become more athletic, just be ready for everything. So I haven’t really focused on specifically middle linebacker, I’ve also focused on coming off the edge and things like that, but I’ve just done a lot of things- drops, backpedals, all that type of stuff that can be transferred to any of the positions.

Yes, I believe so. Offseason workouts. I’m not 100% sure of it yet but the way I believe it’s set up, I’ll come back, get a week off — not off, but away from there — and then go back there, be there all summer working out and hopefully getting better.

We’ll see this weekend. I’m not really sure. It’s going to be the exciting thing but also the "stressful" thing. I’m excited about it but that’s a position I’ve never played before. A position I’ve always wanted to play- I think I might have played two snaps at it in high school.

I don’t really know what I need to work on, but the good thing right now is I’m working on it all. So I’m outside with some of our wide receivers — Ryan Mitchell this morning — and just acting like I’m a middle linebacker and he’s running routes, so I’m trying to work on making sure that I see the quarterback, see his routes, see what the line is doing, and just trying to focus on a bunch of new things. Like I said it’ll be interesting. I’m going to have a very, very steep learning curve, and I’m going to have to pick up everything pretty fast, but this is what I’ve worked months, years, my entire life for. So I definitely won’t be outworked.

People were asking about the Ravens and Baltimore and stuff like that, and after Saturday I’m not a fan anymore of any team. Going to the Ravens obviously that’s a blessing, a great opportunity. But still at the end of the day I don’t feel like a fan of the Ravens anymore.

It’s funny because you hit that complete 360 in terms of I can picture myself looking at the TV a few months ago and watching the game and just being pumped when they won. And now it’s more so, ‘How can I help?’ and, ‘How can I show these guys that … I belong [and] just get the respect from them?’ The same respect that I have from the entire Ivy League, I want the same respect from the entire NFL. So until I get that, there is no fan or not too much excitement in me. Once in awhile I get that, ‘Wow, I’m actually an NFL player right now,’ but then it snaps right back to, ‘You’re nothing.’ And you need to start scratching and clawing your way to the top.

Yeah, and that’s one good thing. The transition is a lot easier. … there is no transition. That also helps me, that takes away a lot of the training curve for me. I know where everything is.

I don’t have too many new variables besides what my new job is, and I know my trainers are right there, I know where to go to get whatever I need. I have my family, I have that backbone. I know the places to go and to not go. I don’t have to worry about going to the wrong places and getting in trouble or anything like that, which [for] a lot of rookies, that’s probably something they should be worried about.

I’m happy but obviously I know that Thursday’s coming fast. I’m excited, I’m very excited. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m not excited for this opportunity and not excited for this journey. But I realize that this is just a step in my ultimate goals. My granddad’s pumped. My whole family was up here [for the draft], they were all excited. Mom’s happy her baby’s coming home. It’s a "fairytale ending," but it’s not the end at all. It’s just the beginning.

American Athletic Conference eyeing the Palestra today

AAC representatives are visiting the Palestra today as a potential site of the conference's March 2014 men’s basketball tournament, according to Mark Blaudschun.

American Athletic Association commissioner Mike Aresco is reportedly drawn to the Palestra's historical significance as the "Cathedral of College Basketball" as well as the gym's smaller seating (8,700 seats), which would encourage greater demand for tickets for the fledgling conference.

Other sites up for consideration include Hartford, Tampa, Memphis, Cincinnati and Louisville. An announcement is expected in the next few weeks on which site will be the 2014 men's tourney host, although the women's and men's tournaments are both expected to move on a rotating basis.

Men's lacrosse to face big NCAA Tournament implications Friday

While many on Penn’s campus are focused on getting back at their teachers following arduous exams, Penn men’s lacrosse is looking to get revenge against Yale this Friday.

The Quakers snuck into the Ivy League Tournament thanks to Yale’s one-goal victory over Harvard on Saturday, and Yale’s reward for beating the Crimson is a date with the Red and Blue in Ithaca, N.Y.

The game has large postseason implications for Penn. While winning the Ivy League Tournament would provide the Quakers with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, a win against Yale would be huge for Penn’s at-large resume.

The Red and Blue currently stand at 8-4 with a 3-3 record in conference play, while holding some major victories over ranked teams, including Duke, Princeton, Lehigh and Villanova.

But after the season with a strong non-conference performance and an Ivy opening win over Princeton, the Quakers lost three of four to Ivy opponents, including a 7-6 OT loss to Yale at Franklin Field.

So a win against the Bulldogs would go a long way toward solidifying Penn’s NCAA Tournament chances before even looking at a possible matchup with the Tigers or Big Red for the Ancient Eight’s automatic bid.

A loss, on the other hand, likely puts the Red and Blue on the outside looking in when it comes to Selection Sunday, despite Penn having the No. 12 RPI in the country.

So if Penn wants to make a return to the NCAA Tournament after missing out in 2012, it desperately needs a strong performance against Yale on Friday at Cornell.

Copeland signs with Baltimore Ravens

The 2013 NFL Draft came and went, and though three Ivy League players were selected, no Penn players went. But it didn't take much time past pick No. 254 for the Baltimore Ravens to call up senior DE/OLB Brandon Copeland to sign him as a free agent.

Copeland is a Baltimore native whose been a Ravens fan his entire life, and his grandfather Roy Hilton won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Colts in 1971. He attended the NFL Regional Combine at the Ravens facility and worked out for the team again earlier this month.  Copeland was hoping to be drafted today in a late round, but he felt he had a good chance to sign with a team if not. He watched the draft at his off-campus house with a few family members and friends.

OL Joe Bonadies also received good news today. He was invited by the Minnesota Vikings to their rookie mini camp next weekend. "I'm definitely very excited, a lot of emotions, it's an awesome opportunity to get a chance to showcase my skills," Bonadies said Saturday night. He had heard from the Vikings earlier this week that they would invite him and received the official invitation after the draft.

"Hopefully I do well, that's the plan," Bonadies said. "Showcase my skills and hopefully get signed."

Bonadies was with Copeland earlier Saturday and is excited for him. "It's a great opportunity, it's his hometown team, it's a great organization," he said. "I'm happy for him. He knew he was going to get some kind of opportunity.

Punter Scott Lopano was also hoping to hear from an NFL team today, but so far has not been signed.

UPDATE: Lopano told us Monday morning that he was invited to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' rookie mini camp, which will take place Thursday through Sunday. 

Penn Relays Live Blog: Day 3

It's Saturday, the final day of the Penn Relays, and we have USA vs. the World, the College Men's 4xMile and much more! Follow along as our writers liveblog all the action.

Introducing the Ivy League Digital Network

The Ivy League announced Friday that it has partnered with Internet Protocol television company NeuLion to create the league's first-ever digital sports network.

Scheduled to launch in August, the Ivy League Digital Network will be comprised of nine separate channels accessible on  tablets, computers and mobile devices, meaning Ancient Eight fans will no longer have to pay for each school's own individual streaming service.

The new nine-channel video platform will consist of eight channels for each individual school and one conference-wide channel which will feature all available Ancient Eight digital content. Schools' own production crews will continue to provide the streams, which will then be unified under the new network.

Subscription  costs have not been announced when the network goes live this summer.

Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky told The Daily Pennsylvanian in January that he had been involved in trying to get the Ivy League to offer all streaming available under one package.

“If we’re able to do this league-wide, you’re going to have every away game,” Bilsky said to The DP in January. “And as a real fan, you might be interested in watching the Harvard-Princeton basketball game on your network for whatever the price is. It will find its right value.”

Bilsky also noted in January that any universal Ivy streaming package would have to achieve comparable quality across all schools, so that fans of one school which features high-definition and announcers in its broadcasts won't grow frustrated with other schools' broadcasts that don't.

Schools' own production crews will continue to provide the Ivy League Digital Network's streams, which will then be unified under the new video platform.

Bilsky wasn't immediately available when reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Friday Penn Relays Liveblog

Follow the action from Franklin Field with our writers!

Roundtable: What to look for at Penn Relays

What should people be looking forward to the most for the 2013 Penn Relays? Our roundtable weighs in.

Sports Editor Ian Wenik: There are a few individuals I’m going to have my eyes on this weekend. In the Olympic Development ranks, I’m going to be watching French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre. You might remember Lemaitre from his performance in the 2012 London Olympics, as he posted a sixth place finish in the 200-meter dash finals. London was a bit of a disappointment for Lemaitre.

Ranked fourth in the world in the 200m heading into the Olympics, his 20.19 time was well off his personal best, and he didn’t even try the 100m. The fastest man of non-African descent in the event’s history, Lemaitre’s will have to go through a stacked 100m field at the Relays that includes 2004 Athens gold medalist Justin Gatlin this weekend.

Personally, I think he wins. Lemaitre is only 22 and has plenty of good runs left in him. In the college ranks, I’m excited to watch my former high school opponent Curtis Richburg take the track for Rutgers. A perennial contender for the state championship during his cross-country days at West Orange, Richburg has been one of the Scarlet Knights’ biggest in-state snags.

Nowadays, Richburg is in top form as part of Rutgers’ 4x800m relay team, which is one of the best in the Big East.

U.S. Olympic Development distance runner Robby Andrews is an interesting story after dropping out of UVA to train on his own. Last week, Andrews won the 800m at the Larry Ellis Invitational with a time of 1:48.18.

Highly regarded for years, Andrews crashed and burned at the Olympic Trials last year. Could he, like Lemaitre, get a boost from a good weekend?

Associate Sports Editor Mars Jacobson: I’ve got to give some love to my home state with the powerhouse Oregon Ducks. They are bringing some stacked relay teams, especially in the distance races. Elijah Greer — NCAA 800m indoor champion and a guy I raced against twice in high school — is a freakish athlete. He will run the 800m leg of the distance medley relay and the 4x800m relay for the Ducks. Oregon will be looking to repeat its performances from 2010, when it swept both the men’s 4x1500 and DMR, and got edged by Robby Andrews of Virginia to finish second in the 4x800 relay.

And while we’re on the topic of Robby Andrews, he was an incredible college runner but it seems he has dropped off recently and I would have missed him among the entries. He is entered in the Olympic Development Men’s Mile — not his strongest event. It was a hit-or-miss indoor season for Andrews, so it will be interesting to see how he does on Saturday. Also featured in that race will be Ryan Cunningham, a former runner for Penn who graduated last year but has continued training with New York Athletic Club. Another Oregon connection will be in the high school boys’ DMR, as Oregon-bound Edward Cheserek — indoor national record holder in both the two-mile and 5k among high schoolers — will anchor St. Benedict’s Prep in their bid to repeat as Penn Relays champions.

The best athletes for Penn actually won’t be competing in any of the relay races. Junior Maalik Reynolds will attempt to recapture his 2011 crown in the men’s high jump, while freshman Sam Mattis — last year’s Penn Relays champion in the high school discus throw – will test himself against some of the top collegiate competition in the nation.

It’s hard to tell which events will be the best in the USA vs. the World series since the athletes have not been released yet, but the 4x400m races have a sentimental value for me, so I’ll be looking forward to those.

Senior Staff Writer Sushaan Modi: While you guys gave a lot of love to men, I’d like to start the women and right here in the Ivy League. Right now, I believe there is no better athlete in the Ancient Eight than Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino. She is incredible.

The first American to ever pull off a 3000m-5000m double in the NCAA Indoor Championships, she has the second best time in the world in the 5000m for 2013. She is supposed to compete in the CW Distance Medley relay and I think she can make the Big Green serious contenders with a monster anchor leg.

Next, I’d like to move within the league and focus a little bit on the Quakers. Mars already mentioned Reynolds and Mattis in the field, and they are definitely Penn’s studs, but we shouldn’t overlook some other Quakers primed for a big weekend.

I’m looking for junior Karl Ingram to do big things in the Javelin. He hit a personal record two weeks ago when he threw 62.75 m, and although he’s not in the Championship, I feel like this may be a big weekend for him. On the women’s side, Davielle Brown has been chasing her coach’s records all season. Could the big meet pressure bring out the best in her?

On the high school side of things, I’m excited to see the 4x100m, which always brings out the best in the crowd. Two Jamaican teams (Munro College and Kingston College) have run sub-40 and with good weather, we may see the Penn Relays record fall this week. They’ll be challenged by Junipero Serra, who managed 40.97 at last week’s Mt. SAC Relays.

Also on the women’s side, it’s Ariana Washington and Long Beach Poly against the Jamaicans. LBP are looking for a third-straight plaque, but it will be anything but easy.

Lastly, no Bolt and very likely no Blake doesn’t necessarily mean a dull Relays. Three members of the USA women’s 4x100m relay (Tianna Madison, Allyson Feliz and Bianca Knight) should be in attendance, but whether they will compete together or on two separate teams remains to be seen. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price is believed to be in attendance, but as a former hurdler, I’m curious to see if Felix Sanchez, who at age 34 managed to capture gold in London, has enough left in the tank to make a run at gold at the World Championships later this year in Moscow.

Bonus Q&A: The grind of going the distance

Enjoy a bonus portion of our Q&A on the risks of long-distance running with John Vasudevan, assistant professor of clinical physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Perelman School of Medicine.

DP: What are some of the injuries that can pop up the day after the race and beyond?

JV: So after the day of the race, of course a lot of times what happens is number one, you can do a lot of muscle damage going that distance and the proper nutrition, not just hydration but nutrition, to kind of replenish that damage is important because if you’re not caring for yourself very well afterwards, you run the risk of additional dehydration.

Marathons in themselves are obviously like any difficult workout — you’re going to feel really sore the next day. A lot of times people will kind of pick up conditions that weren’t serious enough to keep them from finishing the race, [like] knee injuries or ankle injuries.

People come to me with a sort of stress fracture after [marathons], because the adrenaline rush pushed them through to complete it, and then by the next day their body is reacting so strongly to the damage that has been done. It can be quite painful. DP: Is there a greater risk for either gender?

JV: As far as individual genders, overall there’s a trend toward females having more injuries than males, but I wouldn’t hang your head too much on gender.

A lot of times in long-term training with female athletes, the big concern is bone health, and kind of their ability to accelerate their training well, because there’s a relationship between body-mass index, the ability to have your period and the ability to maintain your bone density very well. So a lot of times an athlete who is female, and even [sometimes] a male, comes to me with current stress reactions or stress fractures, and I have to think more not just of the training errors but also [whether or not] there’s an underlying metabolic or endocrine issue, like a hormonal issue.

DP: Should most runners run on their forefoot?

JV: You’re touching on a very interesting subject, which is that of barefoot running or that of minimalist shoes, or forefoot or midfoot running as opposed to hindfoot striking. There’s increasing evidence that’s pointing towards decreasing types of injuries by switching the way you run, so if you run on the midfoot or the forefoot it appears that you’re less likely to get knee injuries or shin injuries. But it doesn’t mean you won’t get injuries — it just changes the kind of injuries you get. It can increase the [number] of foot injuries.

What I tell people is that number one, there is no magic in what kind of stride you pick as long as it’s not giving you recurring injuries. People who want to switch are people who keep running into trouble one way, and if you manage to get them to switch their pattern, they may avoid some injuries. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Don’t think that everyone has to run on their footfoot or their midfoot, and there’s no magic in the shoe type, either. The big mistake people make is [thinking] the shoe looks cool and it’s a good running shoe, but they don’t match it to the way they run. If you tend to run on your heel when you run, you shouldn’t be running a minimalist shoe, because you’re just going to increase the injury rate that you get.

DP: Two young girls ages 10 and 12 are running marathons in under 4 hours. Is that something you would advise against?

JV: A marathon is a very physically demanding sport to participate in and some people may argue that it’s an ethical concern to have children running such distances. My main concern is the one thing it [whether or not] the child had been through puberty. So a lot of times what the danger of this thing is [that] if you do that kind of distance, my presumption is that you’re not doing much other activity.

The more we learn about creating healthy bones that are going to last you for a lifetime, the more rotational stresses you place on the bone — doing things like tennis or soccer or basketball, and things that aren’t just going in a straight line like running — the more you can do that, the more you’re going to be able to fortify your bones to last you a long time.

A lot of times when there’s a runner in middle school who is a really good runner and wants to be a professional runner, the advice [they] should be receiving is play soccer, play basketball. Run when it’s the time to run, but you shouldn’t be doing that exclusively all year round because it’s those people who by the time they get to college, their bone structure isn’t enough to accommodate the demands that an elite level runners is going to need.

The takeaway points that I really want to stress are, it’s really important to know early on what your style of running is, what your deficiencies are in terms of strength or the way your foot hits and to try to prevent rather than wait for injury.

For people who are just starting to get into running, if they start running into trouble, it’s so much more important to come in early and identify what’s going on because a lot of the injuries that can plague runners can plague them for a long time unless you kind of get on to it on the early side ... You may have to miss one race in order to make the next 50, and that’s a hard thing to do.

For USA vs. the World, a familiar cast of athletes

Like every year at the Penn Relays, stars from across the globe will descend on the track at Franklin Field for the “USA vs. the World” races this weekend.

Fresh off his 100m dash bronze medal from the London 2012 Summer Olympic games, Justin Gatlin will headline the American men’s 4x100m relay team.

The former gold medalist was a part of the team that captured first in this event at the Penn Relays a year ago.

Gatlin, along with teammates Mike Rodgers and Walter Dix, will be looking to defend his title against a variety of strong opponents.

But if the Americans are going to sweep the “USA vs. the World” events again, dealing with the Jamaican sprinters will be their toughest task.

The Jamaicans will bring over Nesta Carter, a holdover from their 2012 gold medal-winning 4x100m team.

On the women’s side of the 4x100m race, the title is the Americans’ to lose.

A quartet featuring Allyson Felix, Tianna Madison, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter took first in the event at the Relays last year. Less than four months later, the four set the world record and captured gold in London.

Injuries, however, may create an opportunity for an upset on Saturday. Because of a cramp suffered at an event last weekend, Jeter will not be participating at Franklin Field. Jamaica is a sure bet to be in contention on Saturday. The squad brings three members of their silver medal Olympic team with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart scheduled to participate.

In the 4x400m event, the Americans remain the favorites on the women’s side. 2012 Olympic gold medalists Sanya Richards-Ross, Allyson Felix and Francena McCorory make their return to the Penn Relays, where they took first by over five seconds a year ago.

Assuming the Americans dominate again, teams from Russia, Jamaica and Great Britain will battle for second.

Another big threat to a United States repeat sweep is the men’s Bahamian team of Chris Brown, Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu and Ramon Miller that won the 4x400m gold in London.

If the Americans can sweep the “USA vs. The World” events for the second consecutive year, they will have to rely on a lot of stars to deliver big-name performances on Saturday.

Mel Pender and the 1968 4x100m Relay

Tomorrow, we'll be running a story about Dr. Mel Pender and his godson Kyle Webster who is a sophomore on the Penn Track team. Pender, who set world records in the 50-yard, 60-yard, and 70-yard dashes, competed in the Olympics twice. Here is footage from the 4x100-meter relay where he along with Charles Greene, Jim Hines and Ronnie Ray Smith won gold and set a world record of 38.24 meters. The U.S.A. is running in lane two and Pender ran the second leg.