Make-or-break at the Palestra
The Penn-Princeton weekend.
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The Penn-Princeton weekend.
Dan Solomito was a mere freshman on the Penn men's basketball team's bench on Feb. 9, 1999. Along with fellow freshman Jon Tross, he witnessed Penn jump out to a ridiculously large lead in the team's first game against Princeton that season.
There was history in the making at Tom Gola Arena last night.
Harvard - 78 Penn - 75 Penn - 87 Dartmouth - 71
Andrew Toole must be wondering what he's done to offend the basketball gods.
The play had gone horribly awry, and the backboard was going to pay for it.
Given a little help, the Penn football team could make tomorrow a banner day at Franklin Field.
The time is nigh.
It's homecoming.
He preens.
Dan Allen looked like a man who had an inkling his team had just received its comeuppance.
Penn running back Kris Ryan ran for a robust 169 yards with two touchdowns and quarterback Gavin Hoffman passed for 222 yards and one touchdown as the Penn football team dismantled Holy Cross 43-7 Saturday afternoon at Franklin Field. The win elevates the Quakers to 3-0 on the season, while it drops the Crusaders to 2-2. Spurred by the memory of a humiliating 34-17 loss to Holy Cross last season in Worcester, Ma., Penn wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard. Hoffman connected with Penn wideout Colin Smith in the endzone with less than five minutes gone in the game to give the Quakers the early 7-0 lead, capping a nine play, 57 yard drive. It was a lead that Penn would never relinquish. Less than five minutes later, Penn kicker Bryan Arguello nailed a 25 yard field goal to give the Quakers ten points, which was ultimately all they would need. Holy Cross, meanwhile, was anemic on offense, as they did not amass a single yard in the entire first quarter. The Crusaders finished the game with a measly 151 yards of offense. The Quakers' offense was as explosive as the Crusaders' was impotent. Hoffman, who looked a bit shaky in the beginning of the game, ran one yard for a touchdown with just over nine minutes left in the second quarter to give Penn a 17-0 lead. On their only quality drive of the game, the Crusaders displayed flashes of the team that handled the Quakers easily last year. Holy Cross drove 75 yards - including a 16 yard run by Holy Cross quarterback Brian Hall - for the touchdown, cutting the Penn lead to 10 with just over six minutes left in the half. Just before the half, however, Ryan punched the ball into the end zone on a one yard run of his own, topping off a lightning quick Penn drive that took only one minute and spanned four plays and 30 yards. In the second half, Penn gave the ball to Ryan. Holy Cross defenders bounced off the powerhouse back, who looked unstoppable at times. With a seemingly ever-increasing lead and Ryan chewing up clock and yardage, the Crusaders were done. With a little over six minutes left in the third quarter, defensive end Chris Pennington took down Hall in the endzone for a safety, giving the Quakers a 26-7 lead, and Ryan notched his second touchdown of the day five minutes later for a 33-7 lead. With key starters removed in the fourth quarter, Penn continued to pour it on. Running Back Jake Perskie tallied six for Penn off of backup quarterback Jack Phillips' pitch, and kicker Peter Veldman put an exclamation point on a positive day for the Quakers by splitting the uprights with a 29 yard field goal with only 35 seconds left in the game.
Early on in Penn's 21-20 victory at Dartmouth Saturday afternoon, it looked as if the first team to settle for a field goal would lose the game.
Despite an injury-filled 2000 season, Penn running back Kris Ryan rushed for 662 yards on only 129 carries. In the process, the Penn football team won an Ivy League championship and Ryan was named second team All-Ivy.
Playing for pride. Being the spoiler. These are the subtle pleasures of a ball club that doesn't have much else to play for. The Penn baseball team (19-12, 5-7 Ivy) is such a squad, and it will play for pride while trying to spoil the slim title hopes of still-kicking Columbia (16-24, 8-8 Ivy) in a home-and-home series of doubleheaders this weekend. The Lions head into this weekend's contests against the Quakers with a respectable .500 record in the Ivy League, one good enough to have kept them alive in the race for the Lou Gehrig Division crown. But in order to take home at least a share of the hardware named in honor of that famous Columbia alumnus, the Lions must sweep Penn this weekend, and Princeton (11-5 Ivy) must drop three to Cornell. Considering Princeton's relative success in the Ancient Eight this year and Cornell's relative ineptitude, though, this is an extremely unlikely scenario. In any case, the Quakers aren't in any title hunt and are simply playing to try to win baseball games. "[We want] to finish up in decent form, basically," Penn baseball coach Bob Seddon said. "I would hope that we could finish up and win some games so that we don't look like we fell apart at the end of the season." To this end, Seddon will send juniors Dan Fitzgerald and Mike Mattern to the mound in Saturday's doubleheader in New York's bandbox Andy Coakley Field. Sophomores Andrew McCreery and Ben Krantz will pitch on Sunday when the two teams come to Philadelphia for a second doubleheader, beginning at noon. "Mattern hasn't pitched that badly, we just haven't given him any runs," Seddon said. "McCreery's pitched great... Columbia's going to have to hit to beat him." Seddon also wants the Quakers to get ahead of the Lions early in this weekend's games so that the Quakers can reestablish an aggressive quality on the basepaths. "One thing we've gotten away from is our running game, and the reason why is we're [often] behind [in games]," he said. "So we need to get ahead... You've got to play the percentage. You can't play for one run when you're down four." Whatever may occur, Penn believes it can keep pace with Columbia and ruin the Lions' Gehrig dreams. "They'll be competitive games," Seddon said.
A recent government study on van safety has set the wheels of change in motion, as the University begins to evaluate its usage of 15-passenger vans. According to a report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, carrying 10 or more people in mid-sized 15-passenger vans makes them three times more likely to roll over in single-vehicle accidents. The University uses these types of vans to transport sports teams as well as for student shuttle services. Penn Athletic Department spokeswoman Carla Shultzberg said University officials are preparing to evaluate the report. "We haven't looked at all of the data yet," she said. "We will review the recommendations that the federal transportation people have made, and we're going from there at this moment." The Athletic Department owns several of the 15-passenger vans cited in the NHTSA report. Shultzberg said that all Penn teams use the vans when appropriate. "It depends on where you're going," she said. "We wouldn't take a [charter] bus to La Salle." Several fatal rollover accidents involving the vans and college sports teams have occurred in the past few years, including incidents at Kenyon College, Prairie View A&M; University and Urbana University. Penn Transit Services also uses these vans for the PennShuttle, PennBuses service and Handivan. "We're very familiar with [the report]," said John Gustafson, Assistant Manager of Transportation Services. "[These vans are] basically what our fleet has." Gustafson noted that Penn Transit Services complies with each of the NHTSA's recommendations, including using high-quality rear tires and keeping the fuel tank as full as possible at all times. Both are "standard operating procedure for us," he said. "A lot of these accidents are highway accidents on a major interstate, where the speeds are much higher than in urban driving, like we do," he added. He noted that PennShuttle drivers rarely need to swerve at high speeds around a car that has stopped short, a practice the NHTSA report lists as dangerous. "That's something we train all of our drivers [for], that with a vehicle like this, you're loading and unloading, so you're constantly changing the weight variable of the vehicle," Gustafson said. "So you have to drive the vehicle all the time like it's full, [if] there's a possibility that you're not going to be able to stop fast enough." The NHTSA's report found that overloading a 15-passenger van "causes the center of gravity to shift rearward and upward increasing the likelihood of rollover," according to a Department of Transportation statement. It added that the "shift in the center of gravity will also increase the potential for loss of control in panic maneuvers." Gustafson said that Penn Transit Services acknowledges and accounts for this physics phenomenon. "The characteristics of the vehicle are completely different when it's full, when it has people in it, than when it's lighter loaded," Gustafson said. "And that's something you have to be aware of..." The wearing of seatbelts, according to the report, dramatically increases passenger survival rate in crashes involving rollovers, and the administration strongly urges all institutions that use 15-passenger vans to require the use of seatbelts.
You can't please all of the people all of the time. This rings true for the University, as its plans for the $23 million Pottruck Health and Fitness Center were met with mixed reaction from students and community members who frequent Gimbel Gymnasium. Upon its projected completion in 2003, the Pottruck Center will be connected to Gimbel, and its construction will necessitate closing the gym this summer. The plans for the new building, which were unveiled by the Penn officials last Thursday, also call for relocating Gimbel's Katz Fitness Center to the first basketball court on the second floor. Those who seemed least happy with the prospect of a closed Gimbel Gymnasium were the students and community members who play basketball on the crowded second floor courts. "I was just really, really upset," said John Dundon, a College and Engineering junior who had planned to stay in Philadelphia this summer and use the courts and the workout facilities at Gimbel. "They just sprang it on us at the last minute. We had no idea it was coming. Now it's April, and it's going to close in May, in one month. It really pissed me off." Dundon said he was also concerned that alternative facilities -- such as basketball courts at Hutchinson Gymnasium and on the roof of the parking garage on 38th and Spruce -- will be inadequate to meet his needs, a fear that some echoed. Director of Athletic Communications Carla Shultzberg said that the Athletic Department tried to satisfy as many people as possible. "Every time you do this, you try to make everybody, as many people as possible, happy with the situation," she said. "And sometimes, you can't please all the people." Another concern that many expressed was the scarcity of places on campus to play and the inevitable squeeze that will result when Gimbel reopens in September with only two usable courts. When space permits, the fitness equipment from the Katz Center will eventually be moved into the new Pottruck Center, restoring the number of basketball courts in Gimbel to three, Shultzberg said. Even so, the temporary loss of one court will make a situation already seen by many as inconvenient more difficult. "I feel it's pretty crowded already here," said Ian Sneed, a 1993 Penn graduate and a Gimbel patron. "I definitely think that's not a good move to take away one of the three courts. Especially [considering that] on Friday afternoons, you wait 45 minutes to an hour to play a game." Sneed, who said he would not have used Gimbel during the summer even if it weren't being closed, also felt that the quality of play in pickup games at Gimbel is not usually matched at alternative facilities. Not all ballers, however, were upset at the plans to close their second home. One patron seemed largely indifferent to the temporary loss of Gimbel hoops. "In the summertime, there's always going to be a place to play ball," said Shawn Robinson, a 25-year old data entry technician who just received his membership to Gimbel. The plans to close Gimbel this summer and to ultimately complete the Pottruck Center seemed to be welcomed outside the confines of the second floor basketball courts. "It's fabulous," Lauren Leiman, a College senior, said of the Pottruck plans. "I think a lot of other colleges, a lot of Ivy League schools that I've been to, have fabulous facilities. "It's really bad that we only have one [facility] that's so small that you have to wait an hour and a half to get on the machine."
Penn students yearning to see beyond the confines of West Philadelphia now have a lifeline. This Saturday, the Penn Department of Recreation will kick off its new Outdoor Adventure Program, which will immerse interested students, faculty and others affiliated with Penn in the great outdoors. The program's inaugural event will be a guided trail horseback ride. A hiking trip was scheduled for last Saturday, but according to College senior Steven Schwortz, co-president of the Penn Outing Club, inclement weather and "snags in getting the things rolling" forced a postponement "to allow a greater number of people to get access to it." Despite the setback, Assistant Director of Recreation Kris Wilson, who was involved in putting the project together, is excited about its potential. "[It] allows students, faculty and staff to get out and experience the outdoors of Philadelphia, instead of being on Penn's campus all the time," she said, adding that similar programs are offered by colleges and universities across the country. "It's really just beginning, and it's going to pick up. Hopefully, we'll have some great things going [on]." According to Wilson, the program will last each year from March to October. Penn hopes to hold two events per month, which will be somewhat season-specific. The spring events will include hiking, horseback riding, deep sea fishing and the 5K 23rd Annual Alumni Run. When the weather warms up, the program will plan biking, camping and whitewater rafting trips. Wilson, who has been working on putting Outdoor Adventure together for a little over a year, added that events will optimally be held within two hours' driving distance. Potential areas will include parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Schwortz feels that the new program will be a boon to students who might be too intimidated to plan an outdoors experience by themselves. "There's an enormous amount of people that want to do this kind of stuff," he said. "There's a large majority of that [amount] that are kind of timid about going out and trying to do it themselves. "It provides a good way for people who are beginners to have a structured first experience [with the outdoors]," Schwortz said. The Outing Club, which conducts trips and events under a more unstructured, ad hoc atmosphere, will serve as guides for specific events. It will work in tandem with the Department of Recreation to promote the new program, according to Schwortz. "Essentially, since we serve partially the same purpose, we thought it would be a good idea for us to work together," he added. Penn students, faculty and staff interested in participating in individual events in the Outdoor Adventure Program are required to pay a fee, which will be based on the nature of the event. Students will be required to pay slightly less than Penn faculty or staff. The Department of Recreation also allows those not affiliated with Penn to participate in the program for a slightly higher price.
Sooner or later, the nation's best collegiate grapplers just might be coming to Philadelphia. According to Director of Athletic Communications Carla Shultzberg, Penn is mulling over the possibility of making a bid to host the NCAA Wrestling Championships sometime later this decade. Recently, however, there has been little movement within the Penn Athletic Department concerning the possibility of Penn submitting a bid to the NCAA, suggesting that a Penn attempt to host the tournament is no sure thing. Shultzberg said that the NCAA invited Penn to make a bid. According to Randy L. Buhr, Assistant Director of Championships for the NCAA, if Penn decided to go ahead and try for the Championships, it would have to fill out a detailed bid packet containing information on things such as Philadelphia-area hotels and venues. He added that the NCAA accepts bids to host the tournament in blocks of several years, and that right now it is only accepting bids for the years 2004 through 2007. Homes have been found already for the 2002 and 2003 competitions. Next year Rider College, Siena College and the MAAC will host the tournament in Albany, N.Y., and in two years, the Big 12 conference and the Kansas City Sports Commission will host the NCAAs in Kansas City, Mo. "It's open to anybody and everybody," Buhr said of the competition to host the 2004-2007 Championships, adding that several schools have already submitted bids. "[We'll] welcome a bid from any given city that is interested and feel they meet the bid specifications." One of those specifications strongly encourages that any institution making a bid to host the tournament has an extremely large building in which to stage the event. "A preference will be given to arenas with at least a minimum 18,000 seats," Buhr said. This would mean that, if Penn were to host the Championships, it would most likely have to be held at the First Union Center, the only indoor arena in the Philadelphia area that has the kind of seating capacity the NCAA desires. The matches would not be held at the Palestra -- the arena that the Penn wrestling team calls home holds less than 9,000. The NCAA Wrestling Championships routinely draw huge crowds. When then-Penn wrestler Brett Matter won a national championship at the 2000 tournament at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Mo., he did it in front of nearly 17,000 fans. Further, if Penn were to host the competition, some of its smaller, yet essential tasks would be to coordinate ticket sales and make sure that the appropriate sporting equipment is provided for the grapplers. Based on recent history, the Penn Athletic Department would be no slouch if it came to hosting this NCAA championship tournament. In 1998, it celebrated 25 years of women's championship competition in the NCAA when it hosted the field hockey championship tournament. Last year, Penn hosted the women's crew championship. Perhaps the most important notch in Penn's NCAA belt, however, is its handling of last year's women's basketball Final Four. Penn and St. Joseph's were joint hosts of the tournament. If Penn were to try for the wrestling championships, the success of last year's Final Four, taken in tandem with the Penn wrestling squad's consistent national success, could help its case with the NCAA. As of now, however, nothing is set in stone.
The Penn women's squash team may have been unable to defend its national championship this season, but that didn't stop four Quakers from bringing home some hardware of their own. Senior Helen Bamber and sophomore Runa Reta were named Women's Intercollegiate Squash Association first team All-Americans yesterday, and Penn co-captains Lauren Patrizio and Rina Borromeo were named to the second team. These honors come on the heels of several outstanding performances by the Red and Blue at the WISA Individual Championships three weeks ago in Boston, MA. "It's a really nice honor," said Patrizio, who finished in 11th place at the WISA tournament, six slots higher than last year. "It was exciting to do better than I did last year. That was kind of my goal, to improve upon that." Reta, who made the first team for the second straight year, was similarly pleased with the announcement, though she had a good feeling it was coming. "It wasn't completely unexpected, just because I was seeded in the top 10 going in, so it was sort of expected at the end of the year," she said. "But still, it's a good title to have." Patrizio was happy for her fellow Quakers who had also been tapped by WISA, though she wished that Penn freshman Daphna Wegner could have shared in the honor. Wegner, the Quakers' No. 2 seed, missed the WISA tournament partially due to having three of her teeth broken in the Quakers' unsuccessful title defense at the Howe Cup competition in February. According to Patrizio, she would most likely have also been named first-team All-American had she competed in Boston. "[Being named to the All-American team] does depend on how you do in the year, but mostly [it depends] on how you do in the individual tournament, [it's] how you get ranked," she said. "The rulebook says if you don't compete in this tournament, you can't make All-American status." While the four Quakers are pleased with being honored, both Reta and Patrizio maintain that this type of individual honor is separate from team honor, and that the positive feelings gained from being named to the All-American team are not necessarily linked to the more negative feelings associated with not being able to retain the national title. "It's a different kind of feeling, because making first team All-American is more of an individual goal, whereas winning the national title is more of a team goal," Reta said. "I think they're sort of two separate things." Thus Reta and her comrades say they would gladly trade being named All-American for the national championship. "[I'd do it] in a second," Reta said.