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(07/08/99 9:00am)
Sage and Penn severed ties last week after four months of negotiations. The former coach had been on leave since March. University officials announced Friday that Anne Sage, who had been on leave since March, will no longer serve as head coach for the women's lacrosse team. But the circumstances surrounding Sage's departure remain unclear. A statement released last week by the University said only that Sage "is no longer employed by the University," and Athletic Department officials offered no further comment. Sage did not return repeated phone calls. The departed lacrosse coach had been in the first year of a two-year contract when a petition signed by all 22 members of the women's lacrosse team forced her to go on leave in March. Assistant coach Alanna Wren served as acting head coach in Sage's absence. Penn officials have been tight-lipped about the details of the negotiations throughout most of the four-month ordeal. And they have not kept most of the team updated; four of the five athletes reached for comment had not been informed of Sage's departure as of Monday. Even Wren did not learn until Tuesday that Sage had left. "We've been in the dark this whole time," junior Sara Evans said. "They haven't told us anything." The University commenced the search for a new head coach immediately. According to several players, rumored candidates include former William and Mary coach Kim Lannon and former Penn State coach Julie Williams -- both of whom have moved back to the Philadelphia area. "I know there's a lot of people interested in the job," senior Brooke Jenkins said. "It's not just [Penn] going to look for other people." After the troubles they had with Sage, the team hopes the Athletic Department will allow them to play an integral part in the hiring of a new coach. "Looking at how the women's soccer team hired their new coach, there were representatives from each class that went and spoke with all the candidates," junior Annie Henderson said. "They were able to actually help in the selection process. I hope we get to do the same thing." Wren and the players expect a coach to be hired by the start of the fall semester. The team normally begins offseason practices in the third week of September. "The administration has said that once [the Anne Sage situation] has resolved, they're really going to do their best to move quickly on it," Wren said. "I think everybody would hope for the beginning of the school year. The best case scenario would be sometime in August." While the Athletic Department is searching for a new coach this summer, it signed Sage, whose coaching had been criticized privately by players, to a two-year contract extension last summer. "The University did notice a problem years back and they didn't do anything about it," Jenkins said. "When they renewed [Sage's] contract last summer, that was the beginning of another problem." The team contends the problems they had with Sage that led to their actions last March were due to her shortcomings as a coach and not as a person. "But as badly as I feel for her personally," Evans said, "this is in the best interests of the program." Sage served as the Quakers' women's lacrosse coach since the program's inception 27 years ago and has compiled a 151-155-9 record. Although she led the team to an NCAA Final Four appearance in her tenure, the Quakers have finished above .500 only once since 1986. According to several players, Sage's vacancy in the head coaching position has had a negative impact in recruiting for the team. Wren has had to handle the team's recruiting duties herself, and drawing top recruits to a program in disarray has been difficult. "Most people don't want to come to a school where they don't know what's going on," sophomore Jennifer Hartman said. "There's a lot of turmoil, there's no head coach. I know we got some of the recruits we want, but it's really hard to recruit in this situation." In addition, recruiting was not helped by Penn's disappointing .077 winning percentage this season. With the distractions of the coaching situation, the Quakers only posted one win on the year -- a 10-8 victory at Columbia on April 8. Penn was outscored by a 171-66 margin in its 13-game season, losing by such lopsided scores as 15-1, 17-3, 15-3 and 20-2.
(07/08/99 9:00am)
Doug Glanville. He's the best centerfielder in the National League. No, I'm not joking. And, no, I'm not crazy. The centerfield position in the National League, unlike in the American League, isn't exactly shoulder-deep in talent. There are no Ken Griffeys or Kenny Loftons in center. In fact, the best centerfielder in the Senior Circuit may just be the one patrolling the turf at Veterans Stadium. Don't agree? Well, then, who's better than the Phillies' leadoff hitter among National League centerfielders? Not the Padres' Ruben Rivera -- owner of a .228 career batting average through Monday. Not the Expos' Manny Martinez or Cardinals' journeyman Darren Bragg. The Mets' Brian McRae? The Cubs' Lance Johnson? The Dodgers' Devon White? All are past their prime; none are hitting over .260 this year. What about Darryl Hamilton? He's hitting .308. But he plays for the Rockies in the ultra-thin air of Coors Field. And Glanville still has a higher average and twice as many home runs. Marvin Benard? He's steady -- a career .279 hitter -- but Glanville has more pop, more speed, and a higher average. Preston Wilson? Mike Cameron? The two youngsters have potential, but they have not yet produced enough. Wilson has slugged 16 homers but has also fanned 72 times in 233 at bats. Cameron, meanwhile, owns just a .239 lifetime average. What about Marquis Grissom? The Brewers' centerfielder has a reputation from his days in Montreal of being a high-average speedster. But he has a combined .270 batting average in the last three years and only half as many steals -- nine -- as Glanville this year. So who does that leave? The Astros' Carl Everett, the Diamondbacks' Steve Finley, the Pirates' Brian Giles and the Braves' Andruw Jones. Two solid players and two potential stars. But none better than Glanville. Everett has become a good player in Houston, but he's still only a career .269 hitter. He has more homers and RBIs than Glanville this year, but the Astros' centerfielder still trails in nearly every other hitting category. Finley has enjoyed a resurgence of sorts this year in Arizona with 15 homers and 58 RBIs. But although his power numbers eclipse those of the Phillies' centerfielder, Glanville has a higher average, more steals, more runs, more walks, less strikeouts and a higher on-base percentage. Giles also has more power than Glanville, but, as the Pirates' No. 3 hitter, only has five more RBIs than the Phillies' leadoff hitter. Both Glanville and Giles are in the early parts of their careers, but Glanville has proven himself as a starter for nearly three years, while Giles is in just his first year of full-time duty. Giving Glanville the nod in center over Jones is a tougher choice, however. The Braves' centerfielder hit 31 homers and stole 27 bases while winning a Gold Glove last year. Undoubtedly, Jones can become a better player, but Glanville is the better centerfielder now. Glanville has more stolen bases, a higher average and a better on-base percentage. And, if that isn't enough, as a leadoff hitter, Glanville (48) has more RBIs than Jones (45). Halfway through the season, Glanville is on pace for a 208-hit, 12-homer, 36-stolen base season. And with 47 runs and 48 RBIs, the Philadelphia centerfielder could top the century mark in both of those categories. With a .320 batting average -- .394 with runners in scoring position -- it's hard to deny Glanville a spot among the top centerfielders in the game. "Is he one of the best centerfielders in the game today? Yes." Phillies pitcher Paul Byrd said. "He does a lot of things well. He runs well, he hits well, he can hit for power." Is he the best centerfielder in the game today? No, Griffey is. But is Glanville the best centerfielder in the National League? Even without an All-Star appearance on his resume, the answer is yes.
(07/01/99 9:00am)
Women's lacrosse coach anne Sage has been on leave since early March. The 22 members of the women's lacrosse team forced coach Anne Sage into taking a leave of absence last March. Now, more than three-and-a-half months later, Sage is still on leave. And there is no end in sight to her status in limbo. The Athletic Department and Sage have been negotiating since mid-March, yet the women's lacrosse situation remains the same. Alanna Wren, an assistant under Sage, is acting head coach, while Sage still owns the title of head coach. Sage was in the first year of a two-year contract when the team petitioned the first and only head coach in the history of Penn's women's lacrosse program to step down. Still, little is known about the progress of the negotiations, as Athletic Director Steve Bilsky and Associate Athletic Director Earl Cleghorn declined to comment, and Sage, who has switched lawyers since the start of negotiations, was not available for comment. Wren and the team's players have been kept in the dark about the proceedings, as well. "Both parties -- the administration and Sage -- have done a good job of keeping me out of it," Wren said. "It's a sticky situation, so no one really enlightens me to any details about what they're actually not agreed upon." Without the support of the team, it is unlikely that Sage will return as a coach. But Penn is prohibited to search for another coach while Sage is still under contract. The effects of a vacant head coaching position have not been strongly felt by the Quakers yet, however. As is customary, Wren sent out a packet in early June detailing summer workouts. "Alanna's probably done more this year in trying to get people involved in summer leagues and to make sure that people do the workouts," Penn senior attacker Joanna Lopinto said. "She's having us send her the results at the end of July to see how we're doing and to make sure that we are doing the work." Yet, even Wren admits that there might be a negative effect on recruiting if the coaching situation remains muddled. "At some point I'm sure players are going to ask questions about the head coaching position," Wren said. "But it's still pretty early in the recruiting cycle. I think most seniors understand that there's going to be a coach in place before they would have to make any serious decisions or come in for visits or anything like that." Although she has taken on the head coaching responsibilities in Sage's absence, Wren does not intend to pursue the full-time position if it becomes vacant. "With all that's happened this year, I'm not sure I'm prepared to step into those shoes," Wren said. It is rumored that interest in the head coaching position has already been shown, but Penn can not accept applications or conduct interviews until negotiations with Sage are finalized. And the search for a new coach will take at least several weeks. Lopinto is not worried about finding a new coach, however. "This area is such a hotbed for lacrosse that it's not going to be a problem finding a replacement," Lopinto said. Athletic officials say there is no timetable as to when Sage's status will be resolved, but it is unlikely that the situation will extend into the fall semester, cutting into the beginning of preseason workouts in the third week of September. "I think everyone believes that something will happen before the beginning of the school year," Wren said. Sage compiled a 151-155-9 record in her 26 years as Penn's women's lacrosse coach and led the team to an NCAA Final Four. But most of Sage's success was enjoyed early in her coaching career; she has had only one winning season since 1986.
(07/01/99 9:00am)
The quakers are a few minor scheduling changes away from a date with last year's SEC Champions. Last March, Penn lost to a Southeastern Conference opponent in the NCAA Tournament, as Florida knocked off the Quakers, 75-61. But this December, Penn might tip off against an even tougher SEC foe -- 1998-99 SEC Champions Auburn. Scheduling conflicts may prevent a matchup of the Tigers and Quakers, but, according to Penn coach Fran Dunphy, there is a very real possibility that Penn will face the Tigers in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on December 11. In addition, a tentative schedule released by Auburn last Thursday includes a game at 1 p.m. on December 11, with the opponent to be announced. Auburn assistant coach Shannon Weaver is less convinced of a meeting between the Tigers and Quakers, however. "[Penn's] name has been thrown out in a game we've been planning," Weaver said. "But nothing is set yet." A date with Auburn was made possible by an Ivy League ruling last week that allowed Ivy men's basketball teams to add a 27th game to their schedules. Previously, the league had restricted its members to 26 games. Instead of trying to schedule a lesser opponent to pad its victory total, Dunphy is trying to fill the spot on Penn's schedule with a quality opponent. "Everybody's philosophy on scheduling is so different," Dunphy said. "I think ours is to try to make our non-conference schedule as interesting as we possibly can. Obviously this would be something very interesting and very rewarding, to play Auburn on some national TV scale." If Penn and Auburn did meet, it is likely that the game would be broadcast regionally, although there is a possibility for national coverage on ESPN or ESPN2. It would also mark the first time in history that the two schools have faced each other in basketball. Auburn compiled a 29-4 record last season, earning the No. 1 seed in the South Bracket of the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers defeated Winthrop and Oklahoma State before losing in the Regional semifinals to Ohio State, 72-64. But Auburn will return four of its five starters for the 1999-2000 season, led by forward Chris Porter. The Tigers' senior led the team with 16.0 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Guards Scott Pohlman and Doc Robinson will also be back for Auburn this season. The two combined for 23.3 points per game, and Robinson dished out more than five assists per contest. But the Quakers might have most difficulty with Tigers' seven-footer Mamadou N'Diaye. The senior center, who will likely match up with Geoff Owens, averaged 7.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. Auburn last faced an Ivy League team in 1981, when they defeated Columbia, 63-55. Overall, the Tigers are 3-0 against Ivy opponents, with two wins against Columbia and one against Dartmouth. Penn, meanwhile, has a 6-12 record against SEC opponents. The Quakers have lost to Alabama and Florida in the NCAA tournament, but defeated the Gators in the Fiesta Bowl Classic in December of 1996.
(07/01/99 9:00am)
The Palestra is the place to be for Pennsylvania wrestling fans on December 11. On that date, Penn and Penn State will wrestle for Keystone State supremacy on the mats of Penn's historic arena. The Quakers and Nittany Lions have reached a verbal agreement on a two-year home-and-home series. This December, Penn State will visit the Palestra, and Penn will return the favor with a date at the Nittany Lions' Bryce Jordan Center in 2000. "At this point we've got a two-year verbal agreement," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "I would hope that we'll establish a traditional competition and I believe the competition will be very intense -- state bragging rights." The last time Penn wrestled against Penn State was in 1997, when the Nittany Lions mauled the Quakers, 28-6, at the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Team Dual Meet Championships. · The Quakers will return to the National Duals for the third time in four years at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center on January 22-23. Penn received an at-large bid to the elite 16-team field. The top six teams from the 1999 National Duals automatically qualified, as did Division II Champion Pittsburgh-Johnston, Division III Champion Wartburg and NAIA Champion Northern Montana. Penn was given the first of the remaining seven at-large bids based on the strength of its returning lineup. "Being selected number one out of the remaining teams at-large was quite an honor," Quakers senior Mike Fickell said. "Again, this gives us another opportunity to be in the spotlight and for Penn wrestling to be more nationally recognized." Penn State, Cornell, 1999 National Duals Champion Oklahoma State and Iowa are among the other teams that will compete in the 16-team tournament at University Park, Pa. · The Quakers are looking for a new assistant wrestling coach this summer to replace Jon McGovern. McGovern joined Brian Dolph and Mike Friedman as assistants to Reina last season, but the Central College graduate will be focusing on training for the 2000 Summer Olympics this season. Reina expects a new coach to be hired later this summer. · With the addition of Penn State and a return to the National Duals, Penn's schedule looks especially challenging for the 1999-2000 season. The Quakers, who finished last season ranked 12th in the NWCA poll, will face five top-twenty teams. Aside from No. 10 Penn State and EIWA rivals No. 15 Cornell and No. 17 Lehigh, Big Ten heavyweights No. 9 Michigan and No. 14 Purdue are the top teams on Penn's full slate. The Quakers finished 10-0-2 last season, earning ties with Cornell and No. 8 Central Michigan in the process.
(07/01/99 9:00am)
Eight of coach Roger Reina's eleven incoming freshmen wrestlers are New Jersey natives. Eight of coach Roger Reina's 38 wrestlers for the 1998-99 season were from New Jersey. This season there will be eight New Jersey wrestlers in Penn's freshmen class alone. Reina secured a recruiting class of 11 for the 1999-2000 season -- of which nearly three-quarters graduated from high school in the Garden State. "There wasn't any particular design," Reina said of the geographic distribution of the Class of 2003. "Basically, in our recruiting, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Ohio are the prime three states we've focused on in the last five years or so and they seem to produce the best prospects for our program." This recruiting class is led by lighter wrestlers, as only two of the recruits are expected to wrestle in the four heaviest weight classes. Heavyweight Caleb Race alone might make up for Penn's lack of quantity in the upper weights, however. Race, who lives in North Carolina but attended high school at The Miller School in Virginia, was honored as an All-American in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman categories. "It's difficult enough to place in either one of those events, but to place in both of those events -- and they both transpire in the same week -- it's physically very grueling," Reina said. "I was really impressed with him." Race is not expected to crack Penn's lineup this season, but is the top candidate to replace senior Bandele Adeniyi-Bada as the Quakers' heavyweight in the fall of 2000. The new wrestling recruits can make an immediate impact in the 141-pound weight class,however; the graduation of Mark Piotrowsky leaves a huge hole for the Quakers. Senior James Brennan and Junior Martine Apodaca both may be certified at 141, but Reina does not rule out the possibility of starting a freshman. "The vacated weight class by Piotrowsky is one that is going to be up for grabs," Reina said. "We're going to have some freshmen vie for that spot." New Jerseyans Chris Brizzi and Joey Giuricich, as well as Tinley Park, Ill., native Kyle O'Neil, are expected to compete at 141 pounds. Brizzi finished second in the Freestyle division at Junior Nationals in the summer after his sophomore year in high school, but suffered a series of injuries that prevented him from continued dominance his junior year. The Ramsey, N.J., native returned to form last season, finishing third in the state tournament. Giuricich, meanwhile, has been a National Prep Champion and two-time runner-up in the National Prep tournament. He was also a National High School Championship finalist and New Jersey Junior National Team member. Ranked 10th nationally among high schoolers in his weight class by Intermat, Giuricich will be competing in the Junior Nationals this summer. O'Neil lost just seven of his 127 matches at Victor J. Andrew High School in Illinois. He finished in the top five in the state tournament in three years, including a second-place finish last season. The Illinois Junior National Team member has intensified his training this summer in preparation for both Junior Nationals and collegiate wrestling. "Unlike in high school where some good kids are wrestling with some average kids, everyone in the college wrestling room is really good," O'Neil said. Among the other incoming freshmen wrestlers is Governor Livingston High School graduate Brett Vanderveer, whom Reina considers a sleeper. The Berkeley Heights native was undefeated last year until losing in the semifinals of the state tournament, but lost three straight to end up in sixth place. "I didn't wrestle well in the semifinal match and gotten taken out a little mentally after losing a tough match," Vanderveer said. Vanderveer did recover to place second in the state freestyle tournament, qualifying for Junior Nationals this summer. Rounding out the list of recruits are New Jerseyans Ryan Anderson, Ethan Bullock, Patrick Hu, Matt Koppenheffer and John McRoberts, as well as Hanover, Pa., native Chris Hanlon. Anderson, a projected 149-pounder, won 100 matches in his high school and placed third at the Mid-Atlantic Championships. Hu wrestled at Parsippany High School, where Piotrowsky's father Fred is wrestling coach. Koppenheffer, McRoberts and Bullock are expected to wrestle in the middle weight classes, while Hanlon will wrestle at either 125 or 133 pounds. Overall, while solid, this recruiting class does not have the fanfare of the freshmen of 1997. That class, which included Justin Bravo, Yoshi Nakamura and Rick Springman, was ranked 11th nationally. "I'm not sure that they're going to be rated all that high nationally," Reina said. "But I think that their results by the time they're juniors or seniors will be every bit as high as any recruiting class that we've had coming in."
(06/24/99 9:00am)
Brandon Slay is a former Penn All-American. Trevor Lewis is a former Penn assistant coach and current Wharton associate director of finance and administration. And Brian Dolph has been a Penn assistant coach for five years. All three wrestlers competed in the Freestyle World Team Trials last weekend in Seattle's Mercer Arena. Dolph finished fifth and Slay took home sixth place, but none of the three grapplers will represent the United States in the World Championships in Turkey. Coincidentally, however, all three wrestlers with Penn connections competed in the same 167.5-pound weight class. So, obviously, there was a chance that two of them might have to wrestle each other. And that's exactly what happened on Saturday when Dolph and Slay squared off in the mini-tournament semifinals. Slay had defeated his former wrestling partner, 3-2, earlier in the year, but Dolph avenged the loss with a nail-biting 1-0 overtime victory. Dolph scored on Slay early with one of his signature moves, an inside trip. "I definitely knew that he had that [move] and he's tried to hit that on me many, many times," Slay said. "I knew he was gonna do it. He just set it up real well. I even felt it coming and he did it so well that I couldn't stop it." Both Dolph and Slay wrestled conservatively after Dolph's early takedown, and the score was still 1-0 after the the end of regulation. "I had to stay patient and control position and [Slay] was kind of doing the same thing -- waiting for an opportunity to score," Dolph said. "It ended up a stalemate situation the rest of the match." Neither wrestler scored the requisite three points in the two standard three-minute periods, so a sudden death three-minute overtime had to be contested. Dolph and Slay both failed to score in the overtime period as well, so the final score ended up 1-0 in favor of Dolph. "I just kept trying to score on him," Slay said. "I tried to open some attacks, but I really didn't set my shots up well enough and I didn't wrestle hard enough in the overtime period to get the point that I needed." After defeating Slay, Dolph faced Steve Marianetti in the mini-tournament semifinals. Marianetti took a 3-1 lead deep into the match, but Dolph scored a takedown late in the match to cut the lead to one. The Indiana graduate could not manage to knot the score, however. "I had probably 10 seconds to try to turn him over and score another point to try to tie it or go ahead and I ran out of time," Dolph said. Dolph then lost 9-0 in the battle for fifth place to Dan St. John, who, like Slay, is a United States Olympic Training Center resident. St. John had moved down a weight class prior to the match, so he had an edge on the Ridley Park, Pa., native in size. "I ate breakfast at seven [a.m.]," Dolph said. "And the rest of the day I only ate a power bar, so my intensity was terrible that match [against St. John]. He was big and strong and I needed some energy and strength to overcome his size and it just wasn't there." Slay and Lewis were also defeated by St. John on Saturday. St. John downed Lewis, 5-3, in the quarterfinals and Slay, 4-1, in the consolation semifinals. "The move he caught me on, he turned me," Slay said. "He didn't take me down, he turned me. I know that was the type of technique he was looking for and I just didn't defend it well enough." Slay defeated another U.S. Olympic Training Center Resident, Jason Kraft, 6-0, to finish sixth in the tournament after winning three of his five matches. Kraft had knocked Lewis out of the tournament with a 4-0 victory over the former Penn assistant in the consolation quarterfinals. Lewis and Dolph train together in West Philadephia. But although they wrestle against each other often on Penn's mats, they did not want to face each other in Seattle. "Did I want to wrestle Trevor?" Dolph said. "No, I'd like to avoid that if possible. If anything, I'd like us to be both in the finals." Joe Williams, a former Iowa All-American, was the champion in the 167.5-pound weight class. Slay was defeated by Williams, 7-4, in the 1998 NCAA Finals.
(06/24/99 9:00am)
Brandon Slay is a former Penn All-American. Trevor Lewis is a former Penn assistant coach and current Wharton associate director of finance and administration. And Brian Dolph has been a Penn assistant coach for five years. All three wrestlers competed in the Freestyle World Team Trials last weekend in Seattle's Mercer Arena. Dolph finished fifth and Slay took home sixth place, but none of the three grapplers will represent the United States in the World Championships in Turkey. Coincidentally, however, all three wrestlers with Penn connections competed in the same 167.5-pound weight class. So, obviously, there was a chance that two of them might have to wrestle each other. And that's exactly what happened on Saturday when Dolph and Slay squared off in the mini-tournament semifinals. Slay had defeated his former wrestling partner, 3-2, earlier in the year, but Dolph avenged the loss with a nail-biting 1-0 overtime victory. Dolph scored on Slay early with one of his signature moves, an inside trip. "I definitely knew that he had that [move] and he's tried to hit that on me many, many times," Slay said. "I knew he was gonna do it. He just set it up real well. I even felt it coming and he did it so well that I couldn't stop it." Both Dolph and Slay wrestled conservatively after Dolph's early takedown, and the score was still 1-0 after the the end of regulation. "I had to stay patient and control position and [Slay] was kind of doing the same thing -- waiting for an opportunity to score," Dolph said. "It ended up a stalemate situation the rest of the match." Neither wrestler scored the requisite three points in the two standard three-minute periods, so a sudden death three-minute overtime had to be contested. Dolph and Slay both failed to score in the overtime period as well, so the final score ended up 1-0 in favor of Dolph. "I just kept trying to score on him," Slay said. "I tried to open some attacks, but I really didn't set my shots up well enough and I didn't wrestle hard enough in the overtime period to get the point that I needed." After defeating Slay, Dolph faced Steve Marianetti in the mini-tournament semifinals. Marianetti took a 3-1 lead deep into the match, but Dolph scored a takedown late in the match to cut the lead to one. The Indiana graduate could not manage to knot the score, however. "I had probably 10 seconds to try to turn him over and score another point to try to tie it or go ahead and I ran out of time," Dolph said. Dolph then lost 9-0 in the battle for fifth place to Dan St. John, who, like Slay, is a United States Olympic Training Center resident. St. John had moved down a weight class prior to the match, so he had an edge on the Ridley Park, Pa., native in size. "I ate breakfast at seven [a.m.]," Dolph said. "And the rest of the day I only ate a power bar, so my intensity was terrible that match [against St. John]. He was big and strong and I needed some energy and strength to overcome his size and it just wasn't there." Slay and Lewis were also defeated by St. John on Saturday. St. John downed Lewis, 5-3, in the quarterfinals and Slay, 4-1, in the consolation semifinals. "The move he caught me on, he turned me," Slay said. "He didn't take me down, he turned me. I know that was the type of technique he was looking for and I just didn't defend it well enough." Slay defeated another U.S. Olympic Training Center Resident, Jason Kraft, 6-0, to finish sixth in the tournament after winning three of his five matches. Kraft had knocked Lewis out of the tournament with a 4-0 victory over the former Penn assistant in the consolation quarterfinals. Lewis and Dolph train together in West Philadephia. But although they wrestle against each other often on Penn's mats, they did not want to face each other in Seattle. "Did I want to wrestle Trevor?" Dolph said. "No, I'd like to avoid that if possible. If anything, I'd like us to be both in the finals." Joe Williams, a former Iowa All-American, was the champion in the 167.5-pound weight class. Slay was defeated by Williams, 7-4, in the 1998 NCAA Finals.
(06/24/99 9:00am)
Recruit Jonathan Searles will not play football or baseball for the Quakers. Professional baseball or college? Jonathan Searles will do both. On Friday, the incoming freshman signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates that will allow him to attend Penn full-time for two years and play professional baseball in the summer. Under this contract, Searles will report to the Pirates on or around May 15 in each of the next two years, allowing him to finish both his fall and spring semesters at Penn each year. Searles must report to Spring Training on time starting in 2002, however -- meaning he will not be able to attend Penn in the spring. "It's pretty unusual," Pirates scout Dana Brown said. "When you get a kid, draft him and sign him and he's going to go to college, normally he goes to college in the fall only. But because he's an Ivy League student and he's been accepted into the Wharton School of Business, we decided to go ahead and let him go to school as a full-time student." As part of the contract, Searles will receive a $130,000 signing bonus and the Pirates will contribute $140,000 for his education. The total of $270,000 is equivalent to the typical signing bonus for a fourth-round draft pick. Searles was chosen by the Pirates in the eight round. "The Pirates will do anything to sign their first eight or 10 draft choices because they don't have money for free agency," Penn baseball coach Bob Seddon said. "Unfortunately for us, he was drafted by the wrong organization." Searles was originally recruited to play football exclusively for the Quakers, but the Huntington, N.Y., native reconsidered his future in baseball after being discovered by Major League scouts. On April 19, former scout Larry Izzo saw Searles pitch. Three weeks later, Major League Scouting Bureau's Pat Shortt officially scouted the Huntington High School pitcher. And one week after that, 10 major league scouts -- as well as Seddon -- paid Searles a visit. Because the Major League First Year Player Draft was fast approaching and Searles had planned to play football at an Ivy League school, most clubs assumed they could not sign the 6'3'', 195-pound pitcher. "I was aware of his situation," Brown said. "Some of the other scouts sort of backed off because of it, but what I tried to do was get a feel for what the kid wanted to do, and when I talked to Jonathan, it sounded to me like he really wanted to play baseball." And Searles decided that if baseball was the direction he was going to move in, he would play for the Pirates-- not Penn. "If I'm going to play baseball," Searles said. "I'm going to play at the highest level possible." Searles and his uncle Joe Carrizzo put in an estimated 100 hours of research to determine whether the Huntington High School pitcher should sign with the Pirates. "This was well-researched," Carrizzo said. "This was not a rash decision." The decision does not just affect Searles with regard to baseball, however. Under Ivy League rules, if an athlete signs a professional contract in one sport, he is declared ineligible in every other collegiate sport. So, unlike Texas' Ricky Williams -- who played baseball in the Phillies' minor league system -- Searles will not be able to play football at Penn and baseball with the Pirates. "I'm sure I'll miss football when I'm watching the games," Searles said. "But, obviously, some people say I have a future in baseball." None of the Penn football coaches were available for comment, but Carrizzo says they have been supportive of Searles' decision. Searles will report to the Pirates' Rookie League team in Bradenton, Fla., on Wednesday. He is expected to be brought along slowly, progressing from throwing one inning at a time to a ceiling of probably 90 pitches per start. The right-handed pitcher will likely report to Bradenton again next May, possibly moving up to A- or AA-ball by 2001. Brown, who has been a major league scout for six years, believes Searles has a bright major league future ahead of him with three quality pitches. "I think he's probably going to end up with a plus breaking ball, an above-average changeup and at least an average to above-average fastball," Brown said. Athletically, Seddon believes in the pitcher's future -- he actively tried to get Searles to play baseball at Penn after he saw him pitch this spring -- but the Penn coach is not convinced that the contract Searles signed will be as beneficial academically as hoped. "He'll get four semesters, five semesters, but then what?," Seddon said. "When is he ever going to get back again because at that point he has to go to winter ball, he has to go to full summer ball, he may have to go to fall ball. If he does well, he'll never make it back unless he gets cut." His next two years are pretty well scripted, but Searles is still uncertain whether he will play winter baseball or attend school during the fall of 2001. "I'll have three summers of baseball under my belt," Searles said. "Maybe then I'll know where I stand." But Searles knows where he stands for the now -- a pitcher in the summer, a student the rest of the year.
(06/17/99 9:00am)
Bell Atlantic and Sports Authority both posted wins on Tuesday night. Of course Gene Lett cared about the outcome of the first college game of the season in the Sonny Hill League. He was coach of Bell Atlantic -- and his team was in the midst of a dogfight of a ballgame against Frankie's Fruit Freeze. But the game meant more than that to Lett. The coach for Frankie's Fruit Freeze was none other than longtime rival Rodney Wescott. "[Wescott] lives right around the corner from me," Lett said. "So this was a big game for me and it was also a big game for him. Last year we met up and he beat me, so this year it was a revenge-type thing." And Lett got his revenge. Bell Atlantic defeated Frankie's Fruit Freeze, 75-72, in the Hank Gathers College League opener on Tuesday night in Temple's McGonigle Hall. Although the teams were evenly matched, the two coaches could not have been more polar. Wescott stayed cool and calm, while Lett became progressively louder. Although mighty in stature, Wescott was barely audible over the noise on and off the court, while the short and stocky Lett could be heard loud and clear as he barked instructions to his guard Malik Moore. But while the coaches hoped for a controlled game by their players, the action on the court often had the feel of a pickup basketball game. "It was a little out of control for the first game," said Penn guard Lamar Plummer, who also plays on the Frankie's Fruit Freeze team. "But once everybody calms down, relaxes and realizes this is basketball, everybody's going to get better." Plummer, who ran the point for Frankie's Fruit Freeze for most of the game, scored 11 in his team's loss. The second game pitted two Penn teammates against each other. Geoff Owens and his Sports Authority team squared up against incoming freshman Ugonna Onyekwe and the rest of the Pep Boys. Owens, who finished with eight points, looked strong early. Although he lost the opening tip, he scored Sports Authority's first points with an explosive two-handed dunk thirty seconds into the game. Although Onyekwe and Owens did not match up against each other during the game, they did meet twice in the lane late in the first half. Both times Onyekwe fouled Owens, and, amazingly, both times Owens -- a notoriously poor foul shooter -- drained two foul shots. "I'm really trying to work on [shooting foul shots], gaining confidence and focus," Owens said. "I want to be consistent game to game. I've had my good games even last year. Every day is a new day with free throws so I'm keeping at it." Owens and Onyekwe both played a good portion of the game -- a 70-54 win for Sports Authority. Pep Boys had the lead for most of the game, but Sports Authority pulled away in the second half. The Pep Boys team is unique in the Hank Gathers League, as it is composed of high school -- not college -- players. "This team is in the college league for one purpose only -- for them to get experience against the college guys," commissioner John Hardnett said. "They're top notch players but they have no idea until they touch this floor tonight how physical these guys are. When they go home tonight they're gonna say, 'I didn't know these guys were that big and that quick and that strong,'" Hardnett said. Last year the Pep Boys high school team won the Hank Gathers League championship. Although this year's team got off to a rocky start, Hardnett believes they could win again. "The one advantage the young guys have during the summer is they have stamina and they can run," Hardnett said. "So if they learn to play together they can really play excellent defense against the older guys who are sometimes out of shape in the early part of the year." Among the crowd members that enjoyed the excitement surrounding the beginning of the league's 31st season on Tuesday was founder and former professional basketball player Sonny Hill. "At the time I started the program back in 1968 there used to be a lot of gang problems," Hill said. "I just felt that there was a need to have something organized where the youngsters could cross all turfs and there would be no problem." Hill keeps his program alive through sponsors and gifts, as admission is free to all Sonny Hill basketball games. About 200 spectators occupied the bleachers throughout most of the night on Tuesday. "During the course of an evening we may have 1,000 people pass through the building," Hill said. "Maybe not all at the same time, but [they] are passing through." Most of the Sonny Hill games are in McGonigle Hall, but Drexel, St. Joseph's and other sites are also utilized. Penn, however, is not home to any Sonny Hill games. Hardnett points out that the Palestra is too spacious and has too many entrances and exits. Still, both Hardnett and Hill agree that Weightman Hall, with its multiple courts, would be an excellent site for Sonny Hill basketball games. But Penn, although not discouraging toward the league, has not welcomed Sonny Hill with open arms. "There's procedures you have to go through and sometimes it's a little more difficult [at Penn] than it is at some of the other universities," Hill said. "That needs to be relaxed a little only because we serve a tremendous service -- not only for the ballplayers but for community outreach." The Sonny Hill League is not exactly suffering, however. They have 13 sponsors for teams, an air-conditioned facility in McGonigle Hall and many of the top college players in the area. And, as was evident in the post-game faces of the players on Wescott's losing team -- faces filled with exhaustion and disappointment -- the Sonny Hill League certainly has intensity.
(06/17/99 9:00am)
The Junior National Team is staying on campus this summer. They wake up at 5:30, practice, sleep for two hours, practice again and then basically collapse for the rest of the day. If that schedule sounds grueling, well, it is. But that's what it takes to be a rower in the Junior Women's National Team Selection Camp. On June 7, 20 women from across the country arrived at Penn to take part in this year's camp. The women -- who are in the 18 and under division -- will be staying in Hamilton College House and training on the Schuylkill River for Nationals and Worlds until July 26th. For the fourth consecutive year, Penn women's rowing coach Barb Kirch is serving as head coach for the camp. Her goal is to put together the fastest boat or boats possible out of the 20 rowers in the seven-week long camp. That means, of course, that not everyone will make the cut. Some rowers will be leaving after the National Competition in Indianapolis, Ind., in two weeks, as many of the camp members will not get the opportunity to row at the World Championships in Bulgaria. "I was kinda worried that it was going to be really cutthroat," camp member Laura Scherberger said. "But right now we're all really good friends. We're competing but at the same time we respect each other." To determine who will compete in which boat, Kirch uses both ergometer and seat racing tests. An ergometer is a rowing machine that measures how fast and how strong an individual rows. Seat racing, meanwhile, involves racing a particular group of people and then replacing one person in the boat. By comparing times of the two boats, she can determine the better rower. But the process for selection is a little more complicated than that. "[The coaches] try not to tell you a whole lot," camp member Joanna Riley said. "So you're always pulling hard and always doing what you think you need to do and not trying to analyze, 'Well, let's see, I need to beat this girl and this girl, and I need to do it this way and this way.'" Every practice is important for these rowers in trying to make the team, but there is certainly no shortage of practices. Kirch holds practices twice each day except for Saturday and Sunday, when the team only practices once a day. "We have the opportunity since they're not in school to train twice a day and have their undivided attention toward one goal," Kirch said. "It's a real luxury." Of course, Kirch does allow the team some freedom. They go out for food, shop, see movies, visit Fairmount Park and, according to Scherberger, "flirt with guys." But the rowers did not come to Philadelphia for the other activities. They have to pay for this camp, so they are definitely here to row. The crew members were chosen based on participation in National Team Testing, Talent Identification Camps, ergometer timings, letters of recommendations and spring race results. Five of the rowers are here for a second time. Claudia Durkin, Megan Burritt, Sarah Schreiner, Helen Dalis and Katie Baurichter have all participated in the Junior Women's National Team Selection Camp in the past. But three-fourths of the rowers are in their first selection camp. "I've rowed ever since my freshman year of high school and I've always wanted to get invited to selection camp," Scherberger said. "It's just an honor." The honor of being chosen for the Junior Women's National Team Selection Camp transcends regional boundaries, with rowers coming from all over the United States. Scherberger is from Atlanta, Riley from Connecticut, Schreiner from San Diego and Laura Mutti is from Dallas. But, despite being from different areas and never having rowed together, these women have no trouble rowing quickly. "All of us, since we were good enough to get invited here, were used to being the best or one of the best on our little home team," Scherberger said. "And then we all get here and come together and we're like, 'Whoa, these boats are really fast.'" Unfortunately for some of the women, some boats are faster than others. And that means some rowers won't make the cut when final selections are announced in two weeks. But are the rowers nervous yet? "Yeah," said Riley. "Oh yeah."
(06/17/99 9:00am)
Penn men's fencer Cliff Bayer was honored recently as the United States Olympic Committee's Male Athlete of the Month for May, receiving five of the 11 first-place votes to earn that designation. The Penn senior and New York Athletic Club member beat out canoe sprinter Nate Johnson and boxer Demetrius Hopkins for the USOC award. Johnson and Hopkins finished tied for second with 23 points -- ten behind Bayer. Cycler Christian Vande Velde garnered 18 points for third place. Bayer won a bronze medal at a men's foil "A" World Cup event in Espinho, Portugal on May 22-23. His bronze marked the first senior World Cup medal ever earned by a male from the United States in the foil competition. In the tournament, Bayer -- ranked 26th in the world -- defeated No. 5 Ralf Bissdorf from Germany in the round of 64, 15-11. The Quakers' senior then took down Austria's Stephan Richter, 15-14, and 1995 World Champion Dimitri Chevtchenko of Russia, 15-6. Italy's Daniele Crosta was the next victim of Bayer's foil. The New York native beat Crosta, 15-11, before losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Oscar Garcia of Cuba, 15-11. "This is all on the road to the Olympic Games," Penn fencing coach Dave Micahnik said. "It's tough to make it when you're not a host -- you have to have a high world ranking, and a result like that just cascades into better seeds [in future tournaments] and better rankings." Bayer competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and is looking to return to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. To prepare for the Olympics, Bayer -- who is ranked first in the United States in the foil -- will be taking the year off from Penn to concentrate on his training. "A highly demanding academic schedule and a highly competitive international fencing schedule don't blend terribly well," Micahnik said. Bayer took a year off from schooling prior to the 1996 Olympics as well. A three-time winner of the Senior National Fencing Championship, Bayer will represent the United States team at the 1999 World University Games July 3-12 in Palma de Majorca, Spain. The team was selected on the basis of international and domestic competitions. Bayer, a Wharton student, is training with Yefim Litvan, his private coach from the New York Athletic Club. Litvan is a former assistant coach for Penn.
(06/10/99 9:00am)
Five Quakers will play in Philadelphia's top summer hoops league. Temple's McGonigle Hall was filled with the sounds of the game on a summer afternoon. The squeaking of sneakers against the freshly waxed floor. The "thud, thud" of the ball being dribbled down the floor. And, of course, Michael Jordan's yelling. "Get it to Big. Pass it to Big." Herm Rogul, historian for the Sonny Hill League, fondly remembers that typical day in a summer of Sonny Hill basketball: "Two years ago, Jordan was at the scorer's table the whole day," Rogul said. "He was yelling at the players for three of the games -- all but his own. That was the first time I heard Geoff Owens called Big." Such memories are the norm in Sonny Hill Basketball, where top players join together in both competitive and more casual leagues, ranging in age level from high school to the Baker League, home of Philadelphia-area professional stars. Five Penn basketball players will be competing in the Hank Gathers Memorial College League -- a division of the Sonny Hill League for athletes who attend college or who played high school basketball in the Philadelphia area. "Philadelphia is a great college basketball town so there's a lot of guys from here that go to school at our schools that are from out of town that are playing here," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "It's been a great league for us to be a part of." The Hank Gathers League consists of 13 teams of eight to 12 players. No college teammates can be on the same squad, so the five Quakers are spread out among five teams. Jordan plays for the Camille Cosby team, Owens for the Doug Overton team, Matt Langel for Pittman/Scott, Oggie Kapetanovic for Gladys Logers and Lamar Plummer for the Rasheed Wallace Foundation. But these teams are not permanent. Players may change teams to balance the talent pool. Or, sometimes, players are needed when others don't show up. "One time we didn't have enough guys and Mike Jordan was sitting on the side and we asked him to come play with us," said Kapetanovic, who sat out last season after transferring from Brown. "That was fun for me because I didn't know any [of the Penn players] yet and I hadn't played much with Mike. He came in and we won, so that was fun for me." Penn's representatives in the league agree that the competition is not as great as in morning workouts with NBA players or as in, say, a regular-season game at Temple, but that is due more to a relaxed atmosphere than a lack of talent. "It's a little less serious than the season but you're still playing hard," Owens said. NCAA rules prohibit basketball players from competing in a league until June 15, so the Sonny Hill League will not begin before that date. Two games are usually played on Monday, two on Friday and four on Saturday morning starting at 10:30 a.m. Official schedules have not been released, but, like the rosters, they will probably change many times during the course of the season. "The schedules aren't written in stone," Rogul said. "They're written in sand." Except for one-minute halftimes, games are played under normal NCAA rules with collegiate officials. The style of play, however, is much different. "You're trying to do what you don't normally do," Kapetanovic said. "I'll try to dribble the ball more. I'll try to drive the ball to the hoop." But despite the seemingly laid-back atmosphere, the players do want to emerge victorious. "Every time I'm out there I try to win," Jordan said. "You play for bragging rights." Scores and statistics are kept, and the league holds a playoff tournament. Last year's winning team was the Pep Boys, led by Temple's Alexander Wesby. Dunphy tries to see each of his athletes play at least once a week, usually during the Saturday quadruple-headers. But the Penn coach does not over-analyze his players in Sonny Hill action. "I want them to be in a non-stressed situation," said Dunphy, who under NCAA rules is only permitted to watch games during a period in July. "We put enough pressure on them during the course of the year so the summer should be a little less stressful." But that's not always the case. "I remember one night [former Penn basketball player] Tim Krug had a great game," Rogul said. "But the next day he didn't play so well, threw a shirt in his coach's face and quit." But Krug could not stay away. He came right back with another team and another coach, realizing the Sonny Hill League is not just another summer basketball league. "It's as fine a summer league as there is around," Dunphy said.
(06/10/99 9:00am)
The football class of 2003 was influenced by Penn's 1998 success on the gridiron. Win an Ivy League Championship, get a strong recruiting class. Such a simple formula, but it worked for the Penn football team. "I could have went to Princeton or other Ivy League [schools]," incoming freshman Ryan Strahlendorff said. "But I figured if I was going to go to the Ivy Leagues I'm gonna go to the best football [school]." The allure of a successful football program -- coupled with Penn's usual academic reputation -- helped produce a strong group of freshmen football players. "I've been at Penn for 12 years, so I've seen 12 recruiting classes come through," Penn assistant coach Ray Priore said. "It has to rank in the top one, two or three classes that we've brought in as a whole, in terms of meeting our needs." One of the biggest needs the Quakers had was at quarterback with the graduation of Matt Rader. Three freshmen -- Michael Mitchell, Tony Zara and Jon Searles -- will join holdovers Ed Mebs, Tom DiMenna and Reed Werner in competing for the starting job this summer. "I would say the job's open," Mitchell said. "There's going to be good competition and may the best person win, whoever it may be." Mitchell, a 6'1'', 195-pounder from Orlando, Fla., is arguably the most coveted of the three quarterbacks in the Penn Class of 2003. The Colonial High School senior was a Second-Team All-State honoree in Florida last fall and the Central Florida 6A Player of the Year. Zara, who has played in the same summer league as Mitchell several times, is also from the Orlando area. The Lake Highland High School quarterback/free safety made Honorable Mention All-State his junior and senior years. Searles, a third option, could decide not to play football for Penn after being drafted as a pitcher by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Quakers also recruited a solid group of linemen, both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. One of these recruits, defensive end Strahlendorff, is only in his fourth year of football. The 6'2'', 250-pounder had played soccer until his sophomore year in high school. "I was a big-time soccer player but got too big for soccer," Strahlendorff said. "Too many red cards." Matt Dukes is another intriguing prospect in the freshmen football class. The offensive lineman, from the same high school as Zara, received First-Team All-State honors in football and stands at an imposing 6'2'' and 265 pounds. "He's a big, strong kid, real aggressive," Zara said. "He's the type of guy who plays 100 percent every time." Other Quakers' prospects include linebackers Vincent Alexander and Travis Beldon. Alexander was chosen to the All-State First Team in Michigan, while Beldon was runner-up for the Player of the Year award in Indiana. On the offensive side of the ball, Todd Okolovitch, a defensive back from Old Tappan, N.J., will try to make an impact as a running back in the Quakers' offensive scheme. Although Penn looks to have a plethora of first-year talent, head coach Al Bagnoli and the rest of the Penn coaching staff have a history of using freshmen sparingly. "The coach's philosophy is 'your ability to play is your ability to understand what we're doing,'" Priore said. "Certain positions are a little bit more difficult. The easier impact for many freshmen, at least immediately, is playing on special teams and then being role players on offense and defense." Priore points out that it takes football players a while to acclimate to the college game. Physically, the players are bigger and quicker, and, mentally, the plays and defensive schemes are more complex. "I know the playbook is very big," defensive end Chris Pennington said. "I think it's going to challenge me a lot more mentally than it did in high school." The Quakers' Class of 2003 is composed of 35 players -- including 12 from New Jersey. The recruiting class includes 13 linemen and three tight ends but only two wide receivers.
(06/10/99 9:00am)
Eight-round pick Jonathan Searles must decide whether to sign with Pittsburgh or pitch and play quarterback for Penn. Maybe Jonathan Searles will play football for Penn this year. Maybe the Huntington, N.Y., native will play baseball for the Quakers next spring. Or maybe the incoming freshman will play minor league baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates' organization. Searles, a top football and baseball recruit, will have some tough decisions to make about his athletic and academic future after being selected by the Pirates in the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft last week. Pittsburgh selected the right-handed pitcher in the eighth round of the 50-round draft held by conference call in New York City. He was the 242nd player chosen. Searles said he is still weighing his options and does not expect to decide whether to accept a Pirates contract offer for at least a few weeks. "One decision I have made is that I will enter Penn in the fall and start school in the fall," Searles said. "The rest of it, I don't really know. I'm weighing the factors of when I can go to school -- as far as if it's one semester a year, if I can get a whole year in and then play ball with the Pirates in their training facilities." Searles met with Pirate scout Dana Brown on Sunday morning to discuss where the pitcher would be originally assigned and how quickly he was expected to move up in the Pirates' minor league system should he decide to sign. But the Huntington High School senior is still not certain whether he would play both football and baseball if he does not sign with Pittsburgh. "If I can do both, I'll probably try to do both," Searles said. "It'll be hard with all the time it takes up, but right now it's another one of the options we're weighing out that we're going to have to come up with in the next couple weeks." Searles, a quarterback at Huntington, was originally only recruited by Penn football coach Al Bagnoli. Quakers' baseball coach Bob Seddon did not actively pursue the 6'3'', 200 pound quarterback until last spring. "I was naturally very aware of him," Seddon said. "At that point I was alerted about him and went and saw him pitch and stayed in touch with him." Seddon encouraged Searles to play baseball as well as football at Penn. "He throws 88 miles per hour," Seddon said. "He could make [the baseball team] a power very quickly in this league." If Searles chooses to sign with the Pirates, he will not be able to play either baseball or football in the Ivy League. Other colleges permit a professional athlete in one sport to compete at the collegiate level in another, but the eight Ivy League universities do not. "If you sign a baseball contract you can't play football," Seddon said. "It's Ivy League rules." Searles had planned on playing football exclusively at Penn until last spring, when Huntington baseball coach Harry Walla helped the hurler get noticed as a baseball player. "John was really serious about pursuing football over baseball," Walla said. "Earlier this season, as the football people began to get their ducks in a row, [they] sparked an interest and he kinda felt that was the way he was going to go." But Walla used his contacts with the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau to get a scout to evaluate Searles. "[The scout] came down to a game in the spring and he was impressed," Walla said. "He brought down one of the people that works for the Scouting Bureau and he was definitely impressed and that morning they sent out a report." Soon Searles had 10 scouts with radar guns behind home plate during his starts. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays flew him to Florida to try out after Memorial Day, but the Pirates were the team that most coveted Searles. "When I saw him pitch, Pittsburgh continued to pursue him," Seddon said. "The other teams dropped off him because they felt there's no way he'd be able to be signed because he got into Wharton." While Walla only advises Searles to listen to what people have to say, Seddon has been trying desperately to convince the right-handed hurler not to sign with the Pirates. "This is great for a high school 'C' student who's going to John Jones College," Seddon said. "But not for a kid who's got this opportunity. "The whole picture is 'don't sign if you get into the Wharton School and you have a chance to play football and baseball in college because you will be worth a lot more in the end of your junior year,'" Seddon added. Bagnoli and the Penn football staff are not as opposed to Searles signing with the Pirates, however. "I've spoken to the football people and they were pretty good about understanding that I got drafted and it was unexpected," Searles said. "I think they understand that it's a great opportunity." Although Searles expects to make a decision within the next month, he has no definitive timetable. If he decides to sign with the Pirates, Searles will be assigned to Rookie Ball in Bradenton, Fla. If he decides to compete in Penn athletics, he'll arrive on campus in late August for pre-season football practice.
(06/03/99 9:00am)
Sluggish out of the gate, Penn finishes 12th in 13-team field on Cooper River. Penn's lightweight crew finished 2.3 seconds ahead of Boston College in its qualifying heat last weekend at the IRA Championships. Unfortunately for the Quakers, the Eagles were the only team that the Penn varsity eight beat on the day. In the Petite Final of the lightweight race on Cooper River in N.J., the Quakers finished last -- giving the Penn boat a 12th-place finish in the 13-team field. The Quakers even finished more than five seconds behind Boston College. "I was [happy] with our heat in the morning," Penn coach Bruce Konopka said. "But certainly not in the afternoon with our final race. I'm not sure what it was, if it was a combination of the heat and the weight loss, but we just didn't have as strong a race as we did in the morning." In the morning, the Quakers' boat made up for a slow start with a quicker body of the race and a strong push toward the finish to grab third place in the four-team field. Penn finished 3.5 seconds behind Yale and six seconds behind Columbia in the heat, as the Quakers were not able to make up ground on the top two boats. "We were rehearsing starts for about two weeks before," Konopka said. "Part of the problem was we we're doing them on our own so you really can't gauge how well it's going." The boat did not start much faster in the afternoon and rowed only 3.6 seconds faster in the Petite Final. "I think the guys were pretty gassed just making weight," Konopka said. In the races, Penn experimented with yet another new lineup. Sophomore Mark Hodgson replaced senior Alex Muniz in the stroke seat, but the change had little effect. "Most of the guys in the boat thought it went better with Mark stroking," Konopka said. "But we came to the conclusion that no matter who was stroking, the boat was going to go the same, so it was a matter of trying someone else." Penn almost beat UC-Davis in its Petite Final, but the Aggies edged the Quakers by 7/10ths of a second. "We were neck with them the entire way," Konopka said. Harvard finished first and Rutgers second in the lightweight Grand Final -- a race that Penn has not qualified for since 1996. The Penn lightweights had more success with their four-man boat, however. Normally a heavyweight event, four Quakers lightweights rowed in the freshman four-man open. The boat finished third in the Petite Final in 6:54.60, just 3/10ths of a second ahead of Navy. Although the boat officially placed ninth, its time was the eighth-fastest among freshmen four-man boats.
(06/03/99 9:00am)
Runner-up Syracuse was one of four 1999 Penn foes that made it to the tourney. Virginia freshman attackman Conor Gill and senior midfielder Henry Oakley scored within 21 seconds of each other in the fourth quarter on Monday to lead the Cavaliers to their first NCAA men's lacrosse championship since 1972. Virginia (13-3) held off a late rally by Syracuse (12-5) to post a 12-10 victory before 24,135 fans at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md. The Cavaliers took a 10-4 lead after sophomore midfielder Hanley Holcomb scored his third goal of the day with 13:28 left in the final period. The Orangemen scored five consecutive goals to cut the lead to one, but the Gill and Oakley scores put the game out of reach for Syracuse. Syracuse, the No. 8 seed in the tournament, was one of four Penn regular season opponents to make the 12-team tournament field. Navy, Princeton and No. 6 Delaware -- all Quakers' foes in 1999 -- were also invited. "It speaks to the quality of scheduling," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "If you're not going to be there, you always want the teams you've played to be represented there." Syracuse trounced Penn, 16-7, on April 24, but the Quakers played the other tournament invites close. Princeton only beat Penn by one goal, 8-7, while the Quakers stayed within five goals of both Navy and Delaware. In addition to having faced four of the tournament teams during the regular season, Penn is also linked to the champion Cavaliers through Van Arsdale. The Quakers head coach served as assistant coach at Virginia for six years before being hired by Penn in 1996. The Cavaliers were led by Gill, who was named outstanding player of the championship game. The Timonium, Md., native dished out three assists and contributed the crucial fourth-period goal that halted Syracuse's comeback. Oakley, junior attackman Drew McKnight and senior midfielder Michael Leahy scored twice for the Cavaliers, who had lost their four previous title game appearances. Junior attackman Ryan Powell led Syracuse with two goals and two assists. The Orangemen, who were bidding to become the first No. 8 seed to win the NCAA tournament, took an early lead on a Brian Solliday goal 1:17 into the game. But Virginia scored the next five goals and would never relinquish its lead. The Cavaliers held Syracuse scoreless for 18 minutes and 59 seconds through the second and third periods. Josh Coffman ended the Orangemen's drought, firing a shot past Virginia goaltender Derek Kenney with 1:12 left in the third period.
(06/03/99 9:00am)
The Quakers are sharing the court this summer with NBA players and college athletes. The Palestra has gotten a lot hotter this summer. And not just because of the weather. Ivy Leaguers like Princeton's Brian Earl and Dartmouth's Shaun Gee were the top visitors on the court during the winter. But as the mercury rises this summer, the level of competition on the Palestra floor also heats up. Now Michael Jordan, Geoff Owens and company are guarding the likes of New Jersey Nets guard Alvin Williams and probable NBA first-round draft picks Kenny Thomas and Jumaine Jones. Every day around 9 a.m., Jordan, Owens, Matt Langel and Ogie Kapetanovic head to the Palestra to join in the three-hour practices. The players start with drills, move on to two-on-two and three-on-three games and finally contest full-team scrimmages. "It's great to play pick-up, but this is just a level above," Owens said. "Every morning it's getting better." The talent pool at the summer Palestra workouts will get even deeper in a few weeks. Portland Blazers forward Rasheed Wallace will return to Philadelphia to practice after the playoffs end, and Charlotte Hornets guard Eddie Jones will join the workouts when his hand recovers from offseason surgery. NCAA regulations prohibit college players to practice during the summer, so Penn coach Fran Dunphy has no control over these workouts. But he is hardly concerned. "[My players] get themselves around enough," Dunphy said. "And also they need to spend some time recharging their battery as well. They don't need to be playing as much basketball in the summer as they do in the winter. They just need to be focusing on an area of their game that may need improvement." And that's just what the practices do for the players. "It's a process," Owens said. "You try to work on something every day. Like [on Tuesday], we worked on a lot of no-dribble post moves, so you try to take that to the games." The games played at the end of practice are a combination of polished Division I basketball and a street pick-up game -- a mixture of screens and jumpers accentuated by displays of creativity and athleticism. Don't be surprised to see Williams drive the lane, fake a kickout pass, take two steps and dish the ball off mid-air to a leaping Jumaine Jones for a powerful dunk -- and then have both get back on defense. But with NBA players and future draft picks the opposition, are the Penn basketball players outclassed on their home court? Surprisingly, no. Jordan still runs the point effectively. Owens still makes hooks in the lane. Langel still drains his outside shots. Sure, Jordan has the ball stolen from him more than usual, Owens' shots are blocked occasionally, and Langel sometimes gets abused in the post by bigger guards, but the Quakers hold their own on their home court. "We try to elevate our game to their level out here," Owens said. "So when we get to the summer league, when we get to the season, we're a level above everybody else." While the morning practices at the Palestra are an important part of the offseason conditioning for the Penn basketball players, the Quakers also practice on their own and lift weights three times a week. And they even read books on the mental aspect of the game -- such as a biography of former NBA star and current New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley. Many of the Quakers will also compete in the Sonny Hill summer league starting in two weeks, but the toughest competition for the Penn basketball players occurs in these workouts at the Palestra. "The guys we play in the Sonny Hill League are on our level," Kapetanovic said. "These guys here [at the Palestra] -- they're men." Williams, Wallace, Eddie Jones, Jumaine Jones, Thomas, Cuttino Mobley of the Houston Rockets, Richie Cunningham of the New Jersey Nets and former Penn star Jerome Allen of the Milwaukee Bucks will all play in the NBA next season. But, for now, they all play at the Palestra.
(05/27/99 9:00am)
As the Penn men's tennis team prepares for its ECAC opener this weekend, the Quakers aren't only gaining experience -- they're also collecting air mileage. After journeying to Europe together over the summer, the team boarded the plane once more, this time bound for South Carolina and the Clemson Invitational. And though the landscape may have changed, the Quakers' individual luck did not. In only his third weekend competing for the Red and Blue, transfer Frantisek Stejskal went undefeated at No. 2 singles. En route to his four wins, Stejskal did not drop a single set against the four other teams represented at the tournament -- Clemson, Furman, Georgia Tech and UNC-Charlotte. "Fanda [Stejskal] played great," co-captain Brett Meringoff said. "He played inspired, almost like he was possessed. I never saw him play so intense." While Stejskal was the only Quaker to go undefeated in the tournament, two other Penn newcomers also recorded noteworthy victories. Freshman Ryan Harwood continued his impressive performance this fall, finishing with a record of 3-1 at No. 3. Harwood dropped only his first match against a UNC-Charlotte opponent, quickly rebounding to win his last three, including a close 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 match against Georgia Tech's Tim Bibby. Opposing players are not the only ones learning about Harwood's ability -- the Quakers themselves are encouraged by what they have seen from the freshman. "Ryan played very well. Just from watching him play you wouldn't be able to tell that he's a freshman," sophomore Brian Barki said. "He's playing with a lot of experience and maturity." Another pleasant surprise for the Red and Blue was the play of Jared Corby, also a new addition to the tennis team. Corby, who last played competitive tennis in junior high school because he played football in high school, won a hard-fought victory against UNCC's Matt Wagoner, 7-6, 7-6. "Jared has an athlete's attitude, and hopefully, that will be contagious," Penn coach Gordie Ernst said. "I call him 'The Body' because he's ripped but I should start calling him 'The Virus' because his attitude is infectious." Corby's teammates echoed their coach's assessment of the former Penn football player. "Jared is making incredible progress for a guy who has limited previous match experience," Meringoff said. "He really showed a lot of poise in his match against UNC-Charlotte. "He's just an amazing athlete, which gives him an edge, and the rest is all mental." While the Quakers had some important singles-play breakthroughs at the Invitational, they also continued their quest to improve at doubles, one of their weaknesses last season. On the way to reaching that goal, Harwood and Meringoff teamed up at the No. 1 spot to beat UNC-Charlotte, 8-6, and Furman, 8-5. "The two of us are really coming along as a team," Harwood said. "We're getting to know each other's games better." So much better that the relatively novice duo -- who also teamed up for an impressive victory against a Princeton pair at the Penn State Invitational -- is already looking forward to eventually competing together at a higher level. "Ryan and I played good doubles throughout the weekend," Meringoff said. "We know we're on the same level as these nationally ranked teams, and we're going to shoot for a national ranking ourselves." After a long weekend -- and a long journey -- the Quakers returned to Penn having bonded, and brought back with them a better team chemistry. "This weekend was definitely the most comfortable and the most fun," Harwood said. "Spending time together, we're definitely coming together as a team." That cohesiveness comes just in time, too, as the Quakers face their first real test this weekend as they start their ECAC season at Princeton.
(05/27/99 9:00am)
Penn had six athletes on the first team, led by tennis star Anastasia Pozdniakova. Although Penn's athletic teams had no players of the year, this spring's All-Ivy teams are peppered with red and blue. A total of 12 Penn athletes were All-Ivy selections -- six on the first team and six on the second team. Although five of the six Quakers on the second team are graduating seniors, all six Penn athletes who received First Team honors will return next year. Women's tennis No. 1 singles player Anastasia Pozdniakova made First Team All-Ivy for the third consecutive year. The junior from Collingswood, N.J., won four of her seven matches in the league to lead Penn to a second-place finish. The Ivy-League Rookie of the Year in 1997, Pozdniakova can become only the eighth women's tennis player to make First Team All-Ivy four years in a row with a repeat performance next season. "Of course that would be great," Pozdniakova said. "But I won't be thinking the reason to do well is to make some record. I just love the experience and being part of the team." There was some speculation among college lacrosse experts that junior Pete Janney would be Ivy League Player of the Year, but the league's leading scorer was beaten out by Yale goalie Joe Pilch for the honor. Janney was still a solid All-Ivy First Teamer. A two-time Ivy League Player of the Week, the Severn, Md., native led the Ivy League in scoring with 53 points, as he racked up 37 goals and dished out 16 assists. Two golfers on Penn's third-place squad also made the exclusive All-Ivy First Team. All-Ivy honors in golf are determined by the Ivy League Championship match, held this year on April 17th. Sophomore Kyle Moran and junior Rob Goldfaden both posted three-round scores of 219 to finish tied for second in the match -- good enough for First Team All-Ivy honors. Like Pozdniakova, Goldfaden has earned this honor three consecutive seasons. The final two first team members were instrumental in the resurgence of the Penn softball program. Freshmen Jen Moore and Clarisa Apostol -- who both graduated from Bishop Eustace Prepatory High School in Pennsauken, N.J. -- led the Quakers to 15 victories, the most by any Penn softball team since 1981. Moore led the Quakers with 17 RBIs and 12 doubles and regularly turned in spectacular plays from her third base position. "I was not expecting [to make first-team All Ivy] after the season," Moore said. "I think I'd be more happy if I felt I totally deserved it -- I mean I think I deserved it, but my potential wasn't met." Left fielder Apostol, meanwhile, led the team with a .322 batting average and 21 runs. Of the six Penn Second-Team All-Ivy members, four are from the men's lacrosse team. Sophomore Todd Minerley earned the honors at attack after tallying 42 points, good for second on the team and in the Ivy League. In addition, three men's lacrosse seniors garnered All-Ivy honors. Jeff Zuckerman made the team as a midfielder, while defenseman Ziggy Majumdar was also honored. Goalie Matt Schroeder was beat out for first-team honors by Pilch. "[Pilch and I] have been competing for four years for all the spots [on the All-Ivy Team], so it just comes down to whose team is better," Schroeder said. "His team was 4-2 and we were 2-4 in the league." The other second-team All-Ivy members were seniors Brooke Jenkins and Glen Ambrosius. Jenkins made the team at the attack position in women's lacrosse, while Ambrosius hit .331 as a shortstop for Penn's disappointing baseball team.
