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(01/30/97 10:00am)
After growing up in New York City and playing hoops for Monroe Junior College, John McCord is an Ivy force at Cornell. After honing his skills on the streets of New York, Cornell's John McCord has quickly turned the Ivy League into his own personal playground. His play has led the Big Red in this, his first –– and last -- season in Division I basketball. The numbers McCord has posted thus far place him high on a short list of candidates for Ivy League Player of the Year. Through 16 games, the 6-foot-6 forward is second in the league with 17.8 points per game and second in field goal percentage at .563, all while pulling down a team-high 8.6 rebounds and blocking 1.5 shots and laying out 1.4 assists per game. McCord is no stranger to being the team leader. While at Monroe Junior College in The Bronx, he led the team to a 28-3 record during the 1994-95 campaign. His efforts were recognized by the National Junior College Athletic Association, which named him Player of the Year. McCord, who takes pride in his studies, was also named to the first-team Academic All-America squad. His accomplishments on and off the court speak for themselves, but they are made even more impressive when one considers that he never played high school basketball. "I played in several leagues and tournaments, for fun," McCord said. "But I was working while I was in high school, and there were just certain things that I wanted to do in my life, and I didn't think that basketball was one of them. I chose to work and experience other things." It was only through close friend Stanley Green's encouragement that McCord got into college basketball. Green, a former playing partner of McCord's in tournaments throughout the city, was enrolled at Monroe and told coach Steve Demeo to give McCord a chance. "Stanley told me that I was wasting my talents by playing in the parks and playing at tournaments," McCord said. "He said, 'Why don't you come to junior college and play basketball with me?'." Once at Monroe, it was impossible to keep McCord's natural skills hidden. In addition to teaching McCord the fundamentals that were missing from his game, Demeo and his staff at Monroe were integral in getting the word out to Division I programs that they had found a real talent. "I thought I could get over with my athleticism and with doing the things that I had done in the park," McCord said. "College basketball was much different than that. Their guidance really helped me a lot to get the fundamentals down." After evaluating both his basketball and academic excellence, a number of schools -- including hometown Columbia -- expressed interest in McCord, with Cornell eventually offering him a chance to play. Taking Cornell's offer forced McCord to sit out his junior season, which he said was very difficult, but living with his teammates helped make it an easy adjustment into the school and created a family atmosphere among the team. Cornell's first-year coach, Scott Thompson, ended up the recipient of former coach Al Walker's recruiting powers. Citing the chance to grow and adjust together, the two first year members of the program have a great deal of respect for one another. "He's a real good player and a great kid," Thompson said. "He acts like a veteran -- obviously he's had a big impact on the team. It's very evident to me that he's a good person and has lived up to the expectations." Despite the expectations that arrived at Cornell with McCord, his dominant play has certainly been a surprise. Cornell is a vastly improved team with McCord in the line up. His teammates have looked to him as the centerpiece of the offense -- as shown by his 206 shot attempts, 70 more than any other Big Red player -- and as a role model. Despite not playing for Cornell before, he was named team co-captain. "There are times in practice where I try to get other people involved and they yell at me when I don't shoot the ball," McCord said. "They tell me that I'm the leader. I have a great deal of respect for my teammates because they are the ones that get me the ball." While his statistics are impressive to everyone else in the league, McCord professes to only be concerned with wins and losses. Saying that he has had plenty of individual recognition in the past, his only goal is to win a league title. "I'm not looking for individual awards right now," McCord said. "I would rather give up any individual awards just so I could have a championship. That's what we are focused on. All individual stuff can take a back seat right now." Thompson, however, isn't bashful about saying that McCord will earn consideration for Player of the Year honors. "In my mind he does a lot of good things," Thompson said. "There's a lot of the season left and he's capable of more good things." Faced with tough matchups this weekend against both Penn and Princeton, McCord is prepared to head into the toughest part of the Ivy season. "Last year I saw when we played Penn here and they were a good team, but that's last year. This is this year," McCord said. "We're different. Penn is different. Everyone here is here to help each other grow, and I think that's been a big part of our success so far. We feel that we have to come out and play our game and execute our plays and play our defense and we'll be fine." McCord has dominated the junior college ranks and has been a major force in the Ivies so far this year, but the one thing he hasn't done is throw up a three-pointer this season. With a laugh, McCord said that while he has been joking around with his teammates about that, he will only try one if he has to and is happy with his role on the team the way it stands now.
(01/27/97 10:00am)
The Quakers took the swimming part of the meet, but Navy's experienced divers won the meet for the visitors. It was a tale of two teams for Penn's men's swimming team on Saturday at Sheerr Pool where it nearly knocked off a strong Navy squad. The Quakers (4-2) surprised the Midshipmen (8-2) by winning the swimming portion of the meet, but Navy's trio of divers saved the visitors by sweeping both diving events. It was the diving squad which saved the sinking ship that was the Navy swim team. Penn finished first in seven of 11 swim events, and earned more points in eight of the 11 races. Nevertheless, Bay Dobbins' two first-place finishes led Navy's sweep of the top three spots in each of the diving events. The Midshipmen's diving domination more than made up for Penn's swimming advantage. "The main result of sweeping was helping to get the swimmers motivated," Navy diver Anthony Toriello said. "That's part of our job, not only to perform well. It helps the swimmers being able to know that diving is a sure thing. We're always first if it's not a sweep." Penn's swimmers had nothing to be disappointed about despite coming out on the losing end of a 128-115 final. The Quakers came through with their finest performance of the year against one of their toughest opponents. "We didn't think it would be this close," Navy assistant-coach Kristen LeClair said. "We knew they wanted to beat us, but we didn't think it would come down to the last two events. Every point and every event counts. [The Quakers] seem to rise to the occasion -- that's for sure." Penn's young squad of divers did not perform badly, but inconsistencies and a couple of spectacular crashed entries hurt their scores against older and more-composed Navy. "I couldn't relax myself. I tensed up," Penn freshman diver Kyle Goldbacher said. "Believe it or not, my dives were improving. They were closer to the board. None of them were at peak performance. I have a lot of training ahead of me. I came off looking sloppy." After being swept in the one-meter diving, Penn's swimmers fought back by winning the next four races. The wins brought Penn from 14 points behind to four points ahead. Another sweep by Navy in the three-meter diving, including outstanding ripped entries by Dobbins on his final two dives, pumped up the Navy team. The diving win, and the chorus of "Go, Mighty Navy" from on-looking teammates, propelled Navy to a one-two finish in the 200-breaststroke, which clinched the victory. After the meet there were relieved faces from the Navy side, and a mix of satisfaction and frustration from the Quakers side. "I'm happy with almost the entire team. We competed well," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "They tried to beat a team that is much stronger. They rose to the challenge and did everything they could. "One of the drawbacks was our inability to crack their diving squad -- also a couple of touch-outs. We are progressing through the season the way we should. I'm upset. I wanted us to win. I thought the strategy was right on." Many strong individual performances by Penn swimmers can also be used as confidence builders as league championships grow closer. In his first meet of the year, Quakers sophomore Ryan Kafer won the 100-freestyle, finished second in the 50-freestyle and anchored Penn's winning 400-yard freestyle relay. Penn senior co-captain Jeff Brown swam a different schedule of events than his usual 200-yard freestyle, but still came away with wins in both the 500- and 1000-freestyle. Ken Fletcher also swam an excellent meet and posted a win in the 200-butterfly and a second in the 200-freestyle. "Fletcher did a fabulous job in this meet," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Most of the guys swam their best times unshaved. I don't think a whole lot of people know how hard these guys work. They believe in themselves and in the program, and I think that helps. This is a tough Navy squad." Saturday's meet highlighted the continued improvement of the Quakers swimmers, but also highlighted the difficulty that the team will have in winning meets if the divers remain inconsistent. A week ago, it was Penn's divers who shined at Brown and sealed the victory, but this week Navy showed that its diving superiority is key to their continued league success.
(01/23/97 10:00am)
We here at Ivy Roundup looked outside the office window, noticed how ass cold it was last weekend and decided that it was time to stop complaining and get tough. We bought tickets to the Mr. and Ms. Penn contest, got gym memberships, went running in the snow, rapelled from Grad Tower A and let Rodman kick us ten times (= $2 million). Now we are ready to bring you Ivy Roundup's ode to toughness. Overrated of the Week In our last edition, Roundup correctly predicited that Cornell's impressive 3-1 start to its season was a sham. Now hovering at 8-6, Cornell is headed for Ivy Group mediocrity yet again. No amount of snow, solitude or bridge jumping will make them tough. This week we go after even bigger pretenders, the Big Green from New Hampswhere? Our hack team of researchers spent hours finding out that Dartmouth's 11-4 start is their best start since the 1957-58. That bunch started 17-1 en route to a 22-5 season and an NCAA tournament berth. 11-4 isn't bad, but check out their schedule! Dartmouth's schedule is loaded with losers. Those 11 wins came against Laughayette (5-11), Holy Cross Batman! (3-13), Wagner (6-9), New Hampshire (5-11) -- you get the idea. While Penn travels to tournaments to play Florida and Arizona, Dartmouth travels to play Buffalo. Roundup thinks Dartmouth should get tough. Stop playing everyone in the Patriot League –– the Big Green would be tied with Colgate at 4-0 in the league––and try playing Penn's schedule. The Quakers have played teams in the toughest conferences in the country, the SEC, ACC, Big East, Atlantic-10 and Pac-10, and until Dartmouth starts playing against top teams and stops playing Middelbury, they are the Wannabe of the Week. "I'm a Belgian beer scientist, so naturally I was attracted to Dartmouth," Penn freshman Ben Groverman said. "Yeah, I got in. But you know, strength of schedule counts for a lot, and well, with a schedule like theirs, I just couldn't have lived with myself if I had gone there. Oh, and they gotta get a bench." We couldn't agreed with Beer Boy more. The Big Green's loss last night to mighty Vermont showed why they can't survive a whole season. The five starters all scored in double figures, but the stat line for the bench wasn't pretty. Thirty-one minutes, one-for-eight from the field, three points, seven boards and ten fouls. Get a bench, get a schedule, get your ass down here and try playing us. Check Your Shorts of the Week Roundup was aghast to hear the sad tale of Antonio Reynolds-Dean of the University of Rhode Island. During their game at the Providence Civic Center after Penn's bi-annual spanking of Brown, poor Tony stunned the fans by playing with a brown streak down the back of his shorts. Reynolds-Dean noticed his accident, but not before much of the crowd had seen it. Fortunately he got a chance to change into fresh shorts at half ime. Roundup knows the Providence Civic Center is a tough place to play and that the history of the building is awe-inspiring, (go Providence Bruins), but come on! Tough Mascot of the Week The toughest job Saturday night had to be that of the St. Joseph's mascot. The Hawk kept flapping his wings for the entire two hour game, not even resting his free arm while shaking hands with the other. All that flapping certainly brought him a lot of attention. "I couldn't focus on the game, all I could do was watch him flap. It was amazing," said Hawk Boy Geoffrey in an Ivy Roundup exclusive interview after the game. "Sure, the game was close, but how 'bout that Hawk. He was the star," quoth Hawk Boy. We weren't that impressed, but the Hawk still earns Tough Mascot of the Week. "Ivy League" Education of the Week, Part 1 Ever conscious of our grammar/punctuation, the Roundup staff recently invested in what purports to be "the complete reference for sports editors, writers, and broadcasters" -- a style guide. However, we were soon wondering if, perhaps, our $19 had been wasted (read: not spent on beer). First things first, being proud supporters of the often-Ivy winning teams of Penn, we thought we'd check out the page devoted to ours, the finest collegiate sports league. To our great dismay, we found several glaring errors. First, they listed the "Cornell Big Red" as a member of the league. Huh?! Isn't literacy of the student body still a prerequisite to being accredited as a university? Besides, Roundup was under the impression Cornell was phasing out its sports programs. Why else would they schedule Haverford and Iona? Ivy League Education of the Week, Part 2 But this was only the beginning of our difficulties with Sports: Style Guide and Reference Manual. It also includes the following pearls of wisdom about referring to the conference: " Ivy Group. Do not refer to as the Ivy League or Ivy Conference." Shame on you for thinking you attend an Ivy League university. At least it explains why there are more releases from the "Council of Ivy Group Presidents" shooting out of the DP fax machine than Brown students lining up for a "Make Your Own Tie-Dye" party. When the public gets wind of this generations-long terminological heresy (broken in Roundup), it will change American speech patterns forever. Imagine a young family in Greenwich, Conn. -- struggling to raise two children and an indoor swimming pool -- contemplating whether to send Kent and Missy to private school. "Honey," the mother says, "I know it may set our retirement back until we're 35, but it will help the children's chances of going to a school in the athletic league governed by the Council of Ivy Group Presidents." That's much better than Ivy League, thinks we. For your copy of Sports Style Guide write Triumph Books, Editorial Office, 644 South Clark St., Chicago, Ill., 60605. Now, back to the books -- you're an Ivy Grouper.
(01/20/97 10:00am)
Penn's men's swimming team earned its expected victory on Saturday against Brown, but it was not the lopsided victory that was forecasted. The Quakers' 125-112 victory, which moved them to 3-2 in Ivy League competition, can be attributed to their depth, both in quality and numbers. After bringing just seven swimmers to last year's dual meet, a 134-83 demolition by Penn, the Bears bumped their numbers up to a dozen this year and made it much closer. One can only wonder what Brown might have accomplished if they had the 23-person roster with which the Quakers entered Providence. "They gave us a great meet," Penn junior co-captain Colin Robinson said. "They didn't have the depth, but the guys they had were ready to swim fast. Our victory can be attributed to team depth, and our second and third guys in each race." It was the diving squad's dominance which was also key to the Quakers' success. Filled with mostly freshmen and sophomores, the diving squad is young but talented. Quakers Kyle Goldbacher and Matt Gries took the top two spots in both the one-meter and three-meter events over a Bears diving team which traditionally has been one of the elite league teams. The swim races were a much closer competition. Penn was prepared to face tough challenges from Brown's top swimmer in each race, but the undermanned Bears team proved capable of throwing two strong entrants per race into the pool. Brown came away with first-place finishes in six-of-nine individual races, including a one-two finish in one of the Quakers' specialties, the 200-yard butterfly." "The races were pretty evenly split. They won their share, that's what kept it close," Robinson said. "They had two good guys in each event. Early on they had the momentum. I thought we responded real well. Jeff Brown, as usual, had a superb meet. Guys came through when they needed to." Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur pointed to freshman Jon Maslow's victory in the 100-yard freestyle as the key win for the Quakers. Brown led by one point at the midpoint of the meet and swept the top-two spots in the 200-butterfly in the proceeding race. It was Maslow's victory, Schnur said, that stole the Bears' momentum away. "Jon Maslow's victory turned the tide," Schnur said. "His win was convincing, he was way ahead of everyone else. It gave us the momentum." After weeks of winter training with relatively little rest, the Quakers were undoubtedly somewhat tired for their race, but the team wasn't ready to blame their unspectacular performance on the training, travel, or Brown's uniquely sloped pool which includes lanes that are as shallow as four feet. "You're always tired after two tough weeks, but it's no excuse," Robinson said. "They swam fast, we didn't swim what we are capable of. The pool didn't have any effect either. It's like being tired. In the heat of a dual meet it doesn't matter." Despite Penn's unexceptional performance, Schnur expects the meet to serve as a confidence builder for the rest of the season. He pointed to the team's fatigue and their ability to overcome it during the victory as positive signals for the rest of the season.
(01/17/97 10:00am)
M. Swimming expects competition in each race, but team depth should be the difference. While the Penn men's swimming team has respect for the top swimmers on Brown's squad, the Quakers admit that to come away with anything less than a victory on Saturday, when they face the Bears in Providence, R.I., would be a shocking and disappointing result. The meet should feature competitive finishes for the top spot in each race, but Penn expects that its depth will lead to victory. Brown has some young talent, but with only 12 team members they will have difficulty accumulating a large number of points in each race. "It's a meet we ought to win. We have a better team than Brown does," assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "The main reason we will win this meet is because our depth is superior to Brown. There are going to be some great races for first and second place. We are going to pick up a lot of the backup points." The diving competition is the one in the meet in which the outcome is unsure. Penn's diving squad, when healthy, has performed consistently all season, but Brown's traditionally high-quality group has posted some puzzling results in their two prior meets. "Traditionally, Brown has had very strong diving," Schnur said. "So far this year, though, the results haven't shown that. Brown hasn't swum many meets. You never can tell, but they don't seem to be as strong in diving as the y have been in the past." Penn's confidence and its commitment to be strong at the end of the season has led coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert to choose to have the team train straight through the meet. Led by five seniors, who are rated by the coaching staff as one of the strongest group of seniors to pass through Penn in recent history, the Quakers look to continue their Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League success on Saturday, despite going through a complete workout yesterday. "With the training we did over break in Florida, we feel good," said senior Matt Robon. "With our performance at Dartmouth, things are looking good. We are going to have some tough meets in front of us. [Training through the meet] is a common practice. You bust your butt all season." In addition to having superior depth, Penn also has recent history on its side. The Quakers, especially the five seniors, don't expect their perfect career record against the Bears to end. Brown is hoping that its win over Dartmouth in November, its first in two years, and its winter training in St. Petersburg, Fla., is a positive signal that more improvement and upset victories lie ahead. "Brown is much better this year, but the senior class has never lost to Brown and do not plan on doing so now," Schnur said.
(01/14/97 10:00am)
Penn's men's swimming team went through a grueling week of training over winter break, but to hear them tell it, the Miami sunshine they received in exchange was well worth the effort. Enjoying temperatures in the 80s and the experience of swimming outdoors, the team was allowed to focus on its swimming without the usual distraction of a busy campus life. "It is a lot easier to train hard when you are happy with the surroundings," assistant coach Michael Schnur said. "Training is less of a burden outdoors." The only real burden of the trip turned out to be the meet that Penn competed in while in Miami. The NCAA requires all teams to compete in a meet if they travel further than a couple hundred miles from home during the season. Swimming against training partners North Carolina State, Miami and Penn State, the Quakers finished fourth in an irrelevant meet. "You just say, 'Let's get on with it,' about the meet," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "It's a requirement of training." The Quakers are expecting the trip to pay high dividends during the key races at the end of the season. Lawlor-Gilbert pointed to the opportunity to use the University of Miami's outstanding pool and weight facilities. In addition, the opportunity to train alongside Penn State and North Carolina State's teams was a crucial benefit of the trip to the sunny South. "The people at Miami were very accommodating," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "The coach is an old friend. We got to use the football team's weight room. We swam the long-course pool for our morning workouts. The workouts were real hard." Although the training had left them tired, the swimmers looked at the trip as having positive effects on their team cohesiveness. "Swimming-wise everyone is tired, exactly where they should be," Senior Jon Levine said. "We were close as a team before, but this helped." Others agreed, saying that the opportunity to live together gave them a better chance to become closer as a group. "We definitely got to know the freshmen better," Penn senior and co-captain Colin Robinson said. "The rooms were arranged with a couple of freshmen and a couple of upperclassmen in each room. There was good team bonding. It was a good trip, and it was good training." After flying back to Philadelphia Wednesday, a tough two-workout day on Thursday, and a bus ride to gloomy New Hampshire on Friday, Penn defeated a surprisingly weak Dartmouth squad 145-96 on Saturday. Lawlor-Gilbert was decidedly pleased with the team's performance in their first meet in three weeks, especially when one considers that the Red and Blue were competing with tired bodies and without a full complement of their swimmers. "They haven't had a chance to recover," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "We try to train through dual meets, but we do take each dual meet seriously. We hope to eventually get everyone in the pool at the same time."
(12/09/96 10:00am)
The Penn men's swimming team has promised revenge after a tired and frustrated Quakers squad was upset by Yale at the Colgate Invitational on Saturday. Penn finished second in the meet, defeating weak Colgate and Marist teams, but the loss to the Elis was the only issue the Red and Blue focused on. "We are a better team than Yale. There is no doubt about that," sophomore Brian Cohen said. "The older guys are trying to emphasize that. Had this been a dual meet, we would have beaten Yale. If we were completely healthy, it wouldn't have been close. We want to prove that at Easterns." Cohen's one victory and two second-place finishes helped keep the Quakers close. He won the one hundred-yard butterfly in 51.38 seconds, and finished second to Quakers freshman Matt Reilly in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events. "He swam over and above what we expected," senior co-captain Jeff Brown said. The other high water mark in the meet was Penn's finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Senior Matt Robon led the Quakers to a sweep of the top four places in the race which closed the Elis' lead to a narrow margin. "Getting the one-through-four sweep was a big help," Cohen said. "The event before was the 200-yard backstroke where we took first and second. It was a turning point. We were behind Yale and it got us close." Strong individual performances by the Quakers were nullified by an unusual scoring system. The Colgate Invitational scoring system put a Penn team still struggling with illness at a distinct disadvantage by putting added emphasis on second- and third-place finishers in each race. Penn's many wins in individual races did not receive the extra points normally awarded, making the event less of a swim meet and more of a war of attrition. The Quakers' biggest obstacle was not the scoring system, but rather a dearth of divers. Only freshman Kyle Goldbacher competed in the diving competition for Penn. Yale had four divers competing, and with the top eight finishers scoring points, Goldbacher's effort could not possibly match the Elis' scoring potential. "He did everything he could," Cohen said. "But only having one diver worked to our disadvantage." Penn also failed to capitalize on the relay events, usually one of the team's strengths, which were worth double their usual point value. Although the team considered their performance in the relays fairly good, Penn missed out on an opportunity to tighten the meet. "Going into the meet we knew it would be tough," Cohen said. "It's a long meet in a short period of time. It's really tough."
(12/04/96 10:00am)
We here at Ivy Roundup want to remind those of you who missed last night's season opener to get off your lazy butts and get your season tickets. We don't care if Princeton beat UCLA, we'll still kick their ass this year. But before you get in line, we invite you to step into the paint where the big boys play and take another helping of post-Thanksgiving Roundup. Sportsmen of the Week We here at Roundup welcome the start of the new basketball season. The first week of the season is filled with our favorite games -- slaughters. This week, we salute Ivy League teams pretending to be top 25 schools by going out and running up the score on some hapless Division III teams. A special note of thanks goes out to Hahhvahhd, which disguises its lopsided games by calling them "traditional, heated rivalries." The Crimson took the opportunity Monday night to stick it to its nearby friends at Babson, 110-67. Buffy, our expert field reporter, however, assured us that this game was important because, as she explained that, "Babson has been a real thorn in Harvard's side," and that this was indeed a heated rivalry. We at Roundup would like to point out, though, that missing from this feud is competition and talent. "Well, Babson is Division III. Harvard plays at a higher level," Buffy quickly pointed out. While Hahhhhvahhhhhd was sticking it to its tough Babson rivals, SUNY-Ithaca was starting another "classic" rivalry. In a first-ever meeting, the Big Red Bridge Rappelers held off the tough Haverford gang to squeak out a 90-39 win. Hey, at least Cornell coach Scott Thompson was gracious in victory. "We've been [and still are despite our inflated 3-0 record] so bad we can't take the court and take anything for granted." So Sorry of the Week We think Thompson should save his graciousness for this weekend, when his squad will show how soft its undefeated record really is. The Ithacans will bravely march to their humiliating deaths (as opposed to their usual method of jumping off bridges) against Purdue at the Purdue Invitational on Friday. When asked if it was good or bad that his team got matched up against the host Boilermakers in the tournament's opening round, Thompson said, "I don't know, but we'll get some good experience." Well, we here at ye olde Roundup know. We know damn well. Scott, look at the tournament title. It says Purdue. More people will be packed into an arena watching your team get eaten for dinner by the tournament hosts than have seen you guys play in the rest of the history of your sorry program! Scott, think again, is this good or bad? Yeah, we know, it'll be a great experience. So is living in Ithaca. Wannabe of the Week You have to admire Laughayette, which is again pretending to be the ninth Ivy League school. Tuesday night's game versus Princeton will be the Leopards' fourth straight against an Ivy team. Before the year is up, Laughayette will play all eight Ivy schools. We here at Ivy Roundup hear that Columbia and Yale have petitioned the league to ask that Lafayette be stopped before it racks up more Ivy wins that either the Elis or Lions could ever dream of. Poor Babies of the Week When Princeton lost to Indiana in the Preseason NIT, it was the first time in 77 games that the Little Kitties hadn't started a freshman cub. Before people tell us that this is due to Princeton having six returning starters or being ranked 44th in the country by Sports Illustrated, we would like to suggest that the freshmen Pussycats put on a skill display first. Roundup challenges Princeton's four "diapered pansies" to come out and play our four diaper dandies. Then the world will know why no Princeton frosh starts. They, like everyone else at the college formerly known as the College of New Jersey, suck!
(12/03/96 10:00am)
Penn and Swarthmore showed up with sick teams for a relay meet. In a meet dubbed "The Battle of the Sick Teams" by Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert, the Quakers men's swimming team looked plenty healthy in dominating Swarthmore last night, 192-138. Except for the Garnet's victory in the 200-yard medley relay, every Penn team that jumped in the water beat every Swarthmore opponent. The meet was run under an unusual all-relay format suggested by Swarthmore coach Sue Davis. "The relay format is a good break from league competition," Penn co-captain Jeff Brown said. "Overall, it's a chance to get a break from the intensity of [league competition]." The Quakers returned to form after suffering various sicknesses, ranging from the flu to mononucleosis, before Thanksgiving break. "They are such a nice squad with such a nice coach," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "It's fun. Half of their team is sick too, so it's not a rewarding domination. What is really fun is getting an opportunity to swim different guys in different events." The highlight of the lackluster competition came when Penn's Mark Spenner continued his three-year-old rivalry with teammate Bobby Brown in the opening 50-yard leg of the 500-crescendo relay. In a rivalry described by Jeff Brown as "two guys who just like to talk some trash and swim the 50," the two Quakers brought both squads to their feet in a cheering frenzy. Spenner narrowly won the duel in a rare moment of actual competition. The sprint propelled the two Penn squads to dominating victories over the Swarthmore entry. Both teams lapped the Garnet team. Spenner's victory over Brown led the lane 1 foursome of Spenner, Matt Reilly, Ken Fletcher and Kevin Reilly to victory in a time of 4:42. Swarthmore's lone moment of glory came in the 200 medley relay. The team of Christopher Seamen, Fred Gerson, Brandon Walsh and Carl Sanders outkicked both of Penn's entries to win in 1:44.75. While the Quakers swimmers feasted on the Garnet the way sharks feast on baby seals, Lawlor-Gilbert was using split times to prepare her lineup for Saturday's Colgate Invitational. "We are checking for the travel spots and will decide most tonight after looking at the results," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Some of the focus was being able to swim and see how sick some of them still are. It would have been ideal to use tonight as a tune-up for Saturday, but it is less of a tune-up and more of an endurance test. Not as many guys can take advantage of the opportunity tonight." The Quakers also used the uncompetitive evening to let swimmers try events they normally don't get to compete in. "It's good to give some people an opportunity to swim stuff they don't normally swim," Jeff Brown said. "Some of the guys who finish third or fourth in league get to get out and win here. So it is a lot of fun."
(11/22/96 10:00am)
M. Swimming will kick off its season against the Big Red. It will be a clash of colors at the steamy and over-chlorinated Sheerr Pool Saturday, when the Red and Blue host the Big Red of Cornell in the opening meet of the men's 1996-97 swim season. By winning this heated Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League dual meet, the Quakers hope to get off to a fast and aggressive start to their season. For the seniors, Saturday will represent a final opportunity to defeat a Cornell squad which has won the previous three season opening meets by ever decreasing margins. "There is a history with the juniors and seniors going into this meet," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "We've moved up the ladder in the league and they want to beat teams they haven't in the past. They know what to expect. The seniors have experienced a tri-meet with Yale and Cornell the past three years. This year, though, we have a chance to race one on one with Cornell." After an entire fall of practice, the team is ready to stop racing among themselves and start facing competition. "As far as it being the first meet, I'm real anxious," senior Jon Levine said. "This will be our first real competition and we're all itching to see how the team is shaping up." The five seniors on this year's Quakers team create a strong level of leadership that fuels the team's preparation. "You have [the strong senior] prospective which filters through to the rest of the team," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "It gives me an edge to have an upper-class group upon which I can depend so heavily. When I give talks there is a reinforcement with their work ethic. It is a great thing to have as a coach." Lawlor-Gilbert was quick to point out, however, that come race time, everyone, and not just the seniors, will be relied upon to score key points. "The power in the meet comes from all four classes and diving too," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "The freshmen will be a huge impact, and so will the sophomores and the juniors and the seniors. It's the first time in a long while that I have a balanced attack. It's a good hard-charging group." The Quakers are enthusiastic and excited at the start of the season, and are quite anxious to begin their opener against rival Cornell. The opportunity to finally defeat their nemesis adds to the intensity of Saturday's meet. "We are looking to send a message early," sophomore Jon Carroll said. "We want to get going early. We are looking to have a strong year."
(11/18/96 10:00am)
A step forward. That's the positive spin put on the results of Saturday's IC4A Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass., where the men's cross country team ran to a 13th-place finish in a field of 26. Penn walks away from its final race of the season encouraged by its defeat of Dartmouth, an Ivy team which had beaten the Quakers at the Heptagonal Championships two weeks ago, and pleased with the solid times posted over the 10-kilometer course. "Everybody ran fairly fast. I would take it as a positive step forward for the younger guys for next year," senior captain Matt Wilkinson said. "The most important thing is that everyone is in great shape and will only get better through the indoor and outdoor seasons." Freshman Joe Campagna's race stands out as the bright spot for Penn as it moves on to prepare for the start of the indoor track season. Picking up the slack left by injured Paolo Frescura, Campagna adapted well to his first taste of a 10 km cross country course. Without placing a runner among the top ten individually, Villanova won the IC4As by running an exceptional team race. Their five top runners finished within 40 seconds of one another, displaying the type of team pack running that the Quakers struggled with all season. St. John's and Army walked away with the other two berths from District 2 into the NCAA team championships. Brown University also finds itself with a berth into the NCAAs, edging out Providence by a single point and finishing second in much weaker District 1 competition. The Bears' third, fourth and fifth runners each out dueled their Providence rival to seal the final qualifying spot. Many District 2 schools walked away with only frustration after watching weaker District 1 schools lock up bids and plane tickets to the NCAAs. Seven schools from District 2 all finished ahead of both top qualifier Boston University and Brown, but four of them are left as spectators and not participants in the NCAAs due to the unequal district divisions. Quakers captain Matt Wilkinson also found himself the victim of uneven district divisions, finishing 28th in district 2 in a time of 30 minutes, 18 seconds. The time, Wilkinson's best ever on a 10 km course, would most likely have qualified him individually for the NCAAs if he had competed in district 1. Wilkinson, however, didn't complain about his apparent misfortune. "I don't think that I messed up. I ran hard," Wilkinson said. "I would have liked to have finished higher up, but it just didn't work out that way. The race was really fast and really deep. It came down to a lot of guys with pretty similar capabilities."
(11/15/96 10:00am)
Only a handful of men's cross country teams will have a realistic opportunity to qualify for the NCAA championships when over 30 teams line up at Franklin Park, Mass., on Saturday to run in the IC4A Championships. Penn's chances of qualifying are slimmer than Kate Moss, but the Quakers still aim to run with a high level of intensity. Two weeks after an encouraging but unimpressive seventh-place finish at the Heptagonal Championships, Penn is looking to defeat its rival schools in the final race of the season. "There was a big focus on Heps, but it has only been two weeks," Penn junior Paolo Frescura said. "We ran some hard workouts last week, and we realize that we are still in peak shape. As a group, we are going to run the best we can and go after some Ivy teams." While Penn battles its Ivy foes, nationally ranked teams including Penn State, Villanova, James Madison and Georgetown will fight it out over the fast 10-kilometer course for the three team berths to the NCAA championships. In a separate qualifying district, Brown looks to advance to the NCAAs by defeating a weaker crop of schools. "Some of the best schools in the country are in our district [district two]," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "But Brown has a shot because they are in District I, and there isn't another top team after Providence in that district. It's unfortunate that the divisions are not more equitable." District divisions and the overwhelming number of elite teams could also play a factor in senior captain Matt Wilkinson's hopes to surprise the field and earn one of only six individual NCAA berths. Wilkinson, however, has tried to avoid worrying about his final race. "I keep running, but I don't worry about racing in the weeks between races," Wilkinson said. "I think about other things and build it back up [for race time]." The longer course -- 10 kilometers versus the usual eight -- will give Wilkinson an advantage. He dominated the Ivy League in the 10-kilometer race during last spring's outdoor track season, running a personal best of 30 minutes, 30 seconds. "It is definitely an advantage, but it won't make a whole lot of difference," Wilkinson said. "Any advantage in my favor is helpful, though." From the dozens of racers hoping to be at the front of the pack, Wilkinson hopes to judge his progress by staying with the runners from Navy who walked off with the top two spots at Heps. "I'm going to try and stay with the Navy guys that went one-two at Heps," Wilkinson said. "I should be able to run with them." Powell is confident in Wilkinson's ability to be competitive in the elite field. "He's in the best shape of his life," Powell said. "He's looking awesome in workouts. If he stays focused, he has a shot at it. "But the race is so fickle. There will be 40 to 50 top runners for six spots. To say that it's highly competitive would be a huge understatement. One mistake and you are out."
(11/05/96 10:00am)
Matt Wilkinson finishedMatt Wilkinson finishedseventh individually inMatt Wilkinson finishedseventh individually inthe 58th Heptagonals. Sometimes seven isn't such a lucky number. The 58th edition of the Heptagonal Championship featured fierce competition last Friday at Van Cortlandt Park in New York, resulting in a seventh-place finish for the Penn men's cross country team and a seventh-place individual finish for senior team captain Matt Wilkinson. With its top runners finishing first and second overall, Navy captured the championship, barely squeezing by both Princeton and Brown. Only nine points separated the top three teams. The Midshipmen's Jonathan Clemens outran his teammate by four seconds to capture the individual title in 24 minutes, 42 seconds. Improving from its ninth-place finish a year ago, Penn scored 174 points to finish ahead of Columbia and Harvard. Despite hoping to finish a couple places higher, the Quakers were mostly content with their effort. "We thought it was good, but not perfect," Penn freshman Joe Campagna said. "It was a vast improvement over last year. Even though we were seventh, we were only 40 points from fifth, so things were pretty close." This year's race was highlighted by favorable weather conditions and an evenly matched field. A single minute was the difference between a top 20 individual finish and a bottom 20 result. Additionally, the top seven runners all finished well ahead of last year's winning time of 25:12. "The crazy thing is everyone is really good," Quakers coach Charlie Powell said. "There's a section where almost every second is equal to a place. The 17th-place finisher ran about 25:30, and the 55th guy finished in 26:30. We try to focus on the positive, though. We don't want to sit around and pick the race apart. Saying that you could have picked a guy or two off only makes you want to be bitter." Wilkinson turned in a top-rate performance for Penn, which continued to struggle with its consistency. Running the eighth-fastest Heps time in Quakers history, his time over the five-mile course of 25:05 landed him in seventh-place overall. Seven, coincidentally, takes on an even greater significance than that. His time would have won last year's championships by seven seconds. "I'm not frustrated at all," Wilkinson said. "You can't compare between races and from year to year." Despite their inability to put the perfect race together this year, the Quakers feel that they will have greater success in upcoming seasons. While many of Penn's rivals will graduate key portions of their teams this spring, eight of Penn's top nine runners will return for the 1997 season. "We are one of the youngest teams in the league," Powell said. "We are looking fairly decent for years to come. We are making small steps forward. I think a lot of them came away saying that we can move up in the future."
(11/01/96 10:00am)
The sport of cross country will show off its cruel nature today when the success of the Penn men's cross country season will be determined in less than 30 minutes. The Heptagonal Championships will be run today at Van Cortlandt Park in New York, the site of all but one championship race since 1912. This race is the one time of the year when all nine schools in the league -- the Ancient Eight plus Navy -- race against one another. This weekend's finish will be the sole determinant of the final league standing. The Quakers' young squad -- which includes four freshmen and just one senior -- will compete as part of the nine-man team running for the second time at Van Cortlandt. Penn is seeded ninth in the race but hopes to surprise many by finishing in the top half. "Finishing in the top four or five would be a big move up from last year," Penn freshman John Kroll said. "That would be a success from my point of view." Brown and Navy will enter the race as the top-seeded teams and are expected to dominate the rest of the field. The Midshipmen defeated Penn in earlier races this year, but this will be the Quakers' first look at a Bears squad that could post five runners among the top 20 finishers. "Brown and Navy are the teams to beat," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "They are the teams going for the title. Realistically, they will be one and two unless one of them self destructs. But you have to expect that they will run well. After those teams, though, things are pretty interesting." Matt Wilkinson carries the weight of being the only team member with a realistic opportunity to walk away from Heps with a championship. He will be ranked among the elite group of runners at the starting line, hoping to earn an individual title in his final team race for Penn.
(10/31/96 10:00am)
Enthusiasm, Cameraderie,Enthusiasm, Cameraderie,humor and plain oldEnthusiasm, Cameraderie,humor and plain oldraw talent have contributed to theEnthusiasm, Cameraderie,humor and plain oldraw talent have contributed to thesuccess of the six rookiesEnthusiasm, Cameraderie,humor and plain oldraw talent have contributed to thesuccess of the six rookieson the men's cross countryEnthusiasm, Cameraderie,humor and plain oldraw talent have contributed to thesuccess of the six rookieson the men's cross countryteam. Enthusiasm. Sometimes the biggest contribution a freshman can make to a varsity team is by generating energy from the sidelines. But this year's Quakers cross country team is different. It boasts freshmen who not only create enthusiasm, but who can also run. Fast. Real fast. Six Penn freshmen have finished in the varsity's top seven during the year, helping to rebuild a program that finished last in the Ivy League a year ago. The energy they have provided to the team was felt right from the start. A freshman has finished among the top five Quakers in each of Penn's races this season, and, more often than not, at least five freshmen can be found among the team's top 10. Included in this group are freshmen Scott Clayton and Joe Campagna, who have established themselves as dependable top-five runners over the last month. "[Their talent and energy] was shown from the first day," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "The upperclassmen came by and realized that, wow, these guys were no joke. Making the varsity team was going to be a serious issue." The freshmen themselves expressed some surprise at their early impact. "I never expected to be a key performer," Clayton said. "I was kind of intimidated, but I worked hard to earn respect, and it has paid off." The other freshmen agreed, saying that they originally were looking toward future years to make their mark. "We didn't know what to expect," John Kroll said. "We knew we had a lot of talent. By the time we started racing, though, we knew we could be good now and that we wouldn't have to wait." Jason Greene's aspirations weren't as high as some as his fellow rookies. He simply wanted to get away from his home state of South Dakota. "The coaches had a lot of interest in me," Greene said. "Plus I didn't like South Dakota and wanted to get far away." While stopping short of calling this the best crop of freshmen that has arrived at Penn in his 11 year tenure, Powell did have high praise for their talent. "We always go for a good class." Powell said. "Nothing out of the ordinary happened to get so many quality runners together. We expect loads in the future. They are just starting to figure things out. They are not close to their potential yet, but they are very, very good." With so many strong runners, the possibility for competition and rivalry among the freshmen would seem likely, but that has been far from the truth. They quickly formed tight bonds during a week-long summer training camp in Bucks County, Pa. "There wasn't much testing," Clayton said. "We tried to feel each other out, but we didn't want to start any grudges." The other rookies agreed, saying that trying to keep up to the veterans was tough enough without needing to worry about competing among themselves. "Camp was cool," Sean MacMillan said. "But I didn't realize [all the other freshmen] would be chumps." Joking around is common with these guys, with inside jokes and jibes flying around constantly. Jokes about Mark Granshaw's lack of coordination ("I don't mean to fall during training runs," Granshaw quips back) and their abuse of senior Neil Riordan are two of the most common subjects. Their joking and relaxed nature have been major boosts to the atmosphere in the Quakers locker room this year and have helped elevate the entire team's performance. "The energy really is there," Powell said. "That is the key, and it's kind of unique. When you look at this group, it is not only the energy and the camaraderie, but also that they genuinely seem to like each other." The Class of 2000 includes last year's high school state champs from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and South Dakota. One of the big challenges for this talented group is their reintroduction to a team-running concept. "It's an adjustment. We're used to being out in front," Kroll said. "We had to re-learn pack running and how to run a full five-mile race." While a couple of them liked the longer collegiate distance -- five miles versus only three in high school -- most had some difficulty adapting, referring to the race as "really long." "The first couple of races were bizarre," Sean MacMillan said. "It's been different. We're good, but everyone else is too." The energy, jokes and talent have combined to produce a freshmen class that has excelled by working together. They know they are all good and are looking to dominate as a team in the future. "We all try to contribute as much as we can now," Clayton said, "But we'd be lying if we said we didn't look forward to being up front in future years." Powell is enthusiastic about of theme improve and gain experience during the coming years. "It is fun. The whole world is opening up for these guys," Powell said. "These guys are realizing that, gee, this is great and that they can compete at this level. A tremendous amount of energy is exchanged. That's what is wonderful. They are on the tip of a huge iceberg. They could be unbelievable."
(10/18/96 9:00am)
Week in and week out, Penn cross country runners toil in obscurity, focusing on season-ending races that seem far, far away. But finally, those races are almost here. Coming off an educational, if not wholly successful, effort at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh last weekend, the Penn men's cross country team enters this week's National Invitational at Penn State with a diverse set of goals. The primary goal for this Saturday's meet is to get in one more solid race before the Heptagonal Championship on November 1. Competing without captain Matt Wilkinson and veteran Ross Albert -- both out due to illness -- the Quakers were forced to look to different team members to take up leadership at the Paul Short Invite. Two other veterans, Paolo Frescura and Aaron McCommons, filled the void admirably in leading Penn to a 13th-place finish in the field of 30 teams. "It was a very good meet," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "The guys had to race for themselves instead of gauging themselves off of [Wilkinson and Albert]." Villanova, William & Mary and Penn State swept the top three places, but it was Yale's fourth-place finish that is of most interest to Penn. As Heps draw closer, the Quakers are beginning to compare their own times to those run by rival Ivy League schools. Yale and Navy, which also competes at Heps along with Army, have already beaten the Quakers in head-to-head competition, and Princeton has also shown that it will field a strong team. "You start putting [times] together and see who does what where," Powell said. "Now is the one time of the year that you do look at other schools. Now is the key time." Due to various injuries and illnesses, Penn has yet to receive good races from all of its runners on the same day. Saturday's field will give the Quakers one more chance to tune up for their season-ending meets. "We're still trying to improve," Wilkinson said. "We haven't had every guy hit on all cylinders. I'd like to see that happen. We still have a positive attitude." Missouri is expected to lead the competition, with Penn State and Cornell also challenging. There is also hope that the strong freshmen contingent on the team will recover from the difficult training weeks and pull out of a mid-season bout with fatigue. In the freshmen's first season of collegiate running, the long weekly mileage has made this a draining fall. "It's naturally tougher for them. They haven't done this before," Albert said. "[The upperclassmen] are used to this. In the middle, there's usually a lag everything should come back together." Although freshmen will play a prominent role in November's championship races, it is the veterans that are showing continued strength and improved results. In a break from earlier season results in which freshmen usually finished among the top three for Penn, the four fastest runners in recent weeks have been juniors and seniors. "Upperclassmen are more used to the training," Wilkinson said. "We're responding and improving because we've all been through it before." As the Quakers enter the final critical weeks of the season, their chances of success rest with their ability to come together and all run fast on the same day -- something that has so far eluded this squad. "You only have a few opportunities," Powell said. "These are chances you can not pass up."
(10/10/96 9:00am)
The consummate hardThe consummate hardworker, the men's X-CThe consummate hardworker, the men's X-Ccaptain leads my example He doesn't win with superstition. He doesn't have a pre-race routine. And his success sure isn't due to luck. So why does Matt Wilkinson excel at cross country? It's simple -- he is more focussed and works harder than his competition. Wilkinson wasn't expected to have an incredible impact on the Penn cross country team, but the senior captain has been the Quakers top runner for the past two years. "He was a surprise from the time he walked in," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "Since his sophomore year, he has been a mainstay in our top three or four. And he's been No. 1 since last year." Wilkinson's improvement has put him into a position to challenge for an NCAA individual championship berth this month. He would be the first Quaker in Powell's 10 years at Penn to qualify for the national championship. To do so, Wilkinson needs to finish among the top five individuals -- not part of a qualifying team -- at the IC4A meet on November 16. "As of now I think I'm making good progress," Wilkinson said. While his individual performance is certainly an important concern, Wilkinson, as captain, must also look out for the best interests of the team. "I try to do things right [in practice]," Wilkinson said. "I want to set a good example for the younger guys." Wilkinson has helped rebuild a team that he hopes will finish in the top four at this year's league championship meet. A top-four finish would be in stark contrast to last year's last-place finish at the Heptagonal Championship, which he called "embarrassing" yet "motivating." Powell also is impressed by Wilkinson's strong leadership. "He is a leader by example -- one of the best ever," Powell said. "He's very conscientious. It means a lot for him to do well. The unique thing is that he's mentally tough. He's got a great mind for [this sport]. He always tries to run the best he can." Wilkinson even has a nickname to match his leadership skills -- "Big Daddy." He was given the tag by his teammates, in honor of Cincinnati Bengals defensive lineman Dan Wilkinson, who shares the same last name as him. "[His experience] is a big help," Campagna said. "A lot of the young guys don't know a lot about the courses and competition, and he does. He has a lot of knowledge to share." Raised in the tiny town of Westfield, Pa. -- population 2,000 -- Wilkinson has always had the talent. Following in the footsteps of his father, who ran every day, Wilkinson began winning races from a young age. "We'd run in gym. I was always the fastest at the longer stuff," Wilkinson said. While his dad didn't push him to compete, Wilkinson said that his father did show him that running was a real sport. His talent, however, wasn't shown until he started competing in cross country in high school. Known around town as, "the guy who runs," he was easily the best at his small high school and looked forward to collegiate running as a chance to actually face more even competition. "I was recruited by a few schools," Wilkinson said. "I had high expectations coming into college because in high school we did low-training mileage. I knew I had a lot of untapped potential." After five seniors graduated from Penn's 1994 cross country team, Wilkinson found himself in the surprising and difficult situation of being the No. 1 Quakers runner. Just as in high school, he was practicing at a level above most of his teammates. "Being No. 1 was a tough adjustment," Wilkinson said. "I wasn't sure how to play that role. Before I had guys to run with in races, but now I'm more on my own. It's become a much more comfortable position for me over time." The continual pressure to finish at the top for Penn could cause Wilkinson to burn out, but he says fatigue is never an issue for him. "Every now and then I have a bad day," he said. "But running is such a part of me that I never really get concerned about burning out." Wilkinson will try to continue his success through the remaining month of the cross country season and into the indoor and outdoor track seasons, which he considers to be the more important portion of the year. For now, though, Wilkinson says his focus is solely on cross country and that a better fall season will lead him to have a better winter and spring as well. Wilkinson's affect on Penn runs deeper than his individual performances, though. "He's indispensible -- not just as far as winning meets, but also as an example of hard work," Penn freshman Joe Campagna said. "He's so focused and diligent -- you have to be to compete at his level. He provides a lot of leadership."
(10/08/96 9:00am)
Penn captain MattPenn captain MattWilkinson winsPenn captain MattWilkinson winsindividual title The Penn men's cross country team has been waiting all season for an opportunity to show off its talent. Suffering through dismal weather and a series of injury, the Quakers had hoped that their luck would eventually take a turn for the better. Finally, Penn got its chance on Saturday to run at near-full strength without Mother Nature's interference. The Quakers took advantage with a third-place finish at the Leopard Invitational hosted by Lafayette. Reigning Division III champion Williams won the meet, and Bucknell took second place. But that was of little importance to the Quakers, whose third-place finish was their best of the of the season. "We most definitely showed progress. We showed just what we wanted to show," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "It was a good solid effort -- almost picture perfect." Quakers captain Matt Wilkinson nearly won the individual title, but was outkicked in the the final stretches by Williams's No. 1 runner. "You have to run your ass off to beat [Wilkinson]," Powell said. The coach was also encouraged by the performance of freshman Mark Granshaw, who finished among Penn's top seven runners. The successful performance of the Quakers came as something of a surprise. Unconcerned with its competition and tired from its strenuous workouts, Penn seemed to be more focused on later meets, specifically the Heptagonal Championship, rather than on the Leopard Invitational. However, the Quakers came up with some of their best times of the season. "I hope there are no bumps on the way to the races that really matter," Powell said. Powell noted that the Quakers are still not completely healthy, various illnesses continue to hamper some members of the team. But Powell seemed confident that those minor problems would be of little consequence a couple weeks from now when Penn begins its series of meaningful races. "We have time to get ready," Powell said. "There's nothing that's got us overly concerned."
(10/04/96 9:00am)
Tomorrow, the Penn men's cross country team will travel to Lafayette to compete in the Leopard Invitational, but does anyone really care about the outcome? The question does not concern the lack of spectator interest in the sport, but rather the Quakers' concern with their competitors this weekend. With the Heptagonal Championships looming only one month away, Penn has shifted much of its focus away from this weekend's meet in an effort to have more success later in the season. Improved times, not places, will be the focus for the Quakers. "We've been talking about Heps since [summer training] camp. That's our main focus," freshman John Krol said. "We want to do well at all our races, but that's the one that counts." Although the Quakers may not be interested in the other teams in this week's field, the Leopard Invitational will feature many strong squads. Leading the approximately dozen entries is reigning Division III champion Williams. Bucknell is also expected to be among the top finishers. The only team Penn may specifically keep its eye out for is Maryland, which defeated the Quakers in the opening race of the season. The Quakers are hoping to gauge their progress by staying close to the Terrapins this time around. Because Penn has been training hard for the Heptagonals, it has not rested up in the days preceding its meets. "[The workouts] are hard, and our racing now may suffer, but it will pay off a lot more at the end of the season," Quakers freshman Joe Campagna said. "We're starting to do things so we don't wear out or burn out." As the more important races approach, the runners will look to taper -- running fewer miles in an effort to increase race performance -- and heal their tired bodies. "We have been doing a lot of hard work between races. Now we'll calm it down and try to race better," Penn freshman Sean MacMillan said. Coach Charlie Powell is leading the Quakers in their effort to focus only on their own progress at this point in the season. Unconcerned with anyone his team is racing, Powell is looking solely for an opportunity to have a good racing day for the team to come together and gain confidence. This week's Invite will serve as another opportunity for the Quakers to work on their pack running skills and continue their progression toward the Heps. For Penn, winning this weekend is irrelevant. The important goal is still a month away.
(10/01/96 9:00am)
Ask any cross country runner how the weather is and more likely than not you'll get a reply along the lines of, "I hate it." It's only the beginning of October, but the Quakers wouldn't be surprised if it snowed on them next week. Monsoon-like rains, humidity and gusting winds have plagued the team in its first three races of the season. This past Saturday was no exception when Penn traveled to the Iona Invitational at Van Cortland Park, New York, where the Quakers raced to a 10th place finish in a field of 24 teams. Going into the race, Penn was focussed only on its own performance, hoping to come away with a better knowledge of the course, which will also host the Heptagonal Championship. "We did very well. It was a solid workman like effort," Quakers coach Charlie Powell said. "In some cases, traffic was a little crazy. There were some problems, but we still had six guys in the top 75 in a field of 350." Penn captain Matt Wilkinson was the first Quaker to cross the line, followed by Ross Albert, Matt Blodgett and freshmen Joe Campagna and Scott Clayton. In addition to the large field size, the Quakers were also frustrated by 25-30 mile per hour winds. "[The freshmen] did not get a true impression of how the course runs," Powell said. "You're hoping to run fast. I don't know if they can get a good impression. Comparing their times to times run by other teams on other days isn't a fair judge. We need a decent weather day to run on to build confidence up." Weather has given Penn problems at each race so far this year. Torrential rains at Maryland caused mud to build up on the runners shoes, slowing their pace. A week later at Navy, heat and humidity wore down the Quakers after a fast early racing pace, and the winds this past week gave Penn a trifecta of miserable racing days. Regardless of Mother Nature, Powell is mostly satisfied with his team's performance one-third of the way through the 1996 season. "For the most part we're right on schedule," Powell said. "We have a few hurts. [Paolo] Frescura didn't race this week. There are a few dead legs. Sooner or later, we'll find out where we are. We got to have some decent days."
