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(09/27/96 9:00am)
With more than 20 schools and 300 runners competing in tomorrow's Iona Invitational at VanCortland Park in New York, one would think that Penn's men's cross country team would have difficulty sizing up the field. In actuality, though, the Quakers' focus lies with only one team's performance -- their own. Coming off a disappointing outing a week ago at Navy, Penn has vowed to concentrate on its own performance rather than worry about the other teams in the field. "I'm just watching what we're doing. I could care less what the other teams are doing," Quakers coach Charlie Powell said. "We want to get out, run smooth and stay together." This weekend's race carries added importance because of its location. VanCortland Park is the course where the Heptagonal Championships -- the race that determines the league champion -- are run in early November. For the freshmen Quakers, this will be their first opportunity to practice a course in which experience is a decided advantage. "It's definitely easier once you know the course," Penn junior Aaron McCommons said. "The first couple of times you run it, the back hills look the same. You're not sure which hill is the last one. Experience helps you control your use of energy in that section." The Quakers hope to use tomorrow's meet as a practice run for the Heptagonals may be ruined by a common New York problem -- traffic. With 300 participants on the course at once, those runners not in the lead face the risk of getting stuck in a tight heavy pack and having their pace slowed considerably. "All we want to do is get a good race at VanCortland. That's all we care about," Powell said. "The problem is there are going to be 25 teams and maybe 300 runners. The course can't handle that many runners. At a mile the course narrows. We could get stuck in a pack so clogged up that people are reduced to jogging." In order to combat that potential problem, the Quakers hope to get out to a quick start. But spending too much energy to avoid traffic early could prove costly when trying to run together as a pack over the five-mile span. "The course dictates that the first three miles be run quickly and then hang on for the last two," Powell said. "It's mentally taxing to be almost spent with two miles to go." Despite the potential hazards of running in a large field of racers, the Quakers will do their best to focus on only the runners in red and blue. "We're going to go out and run the way we're supposed to," McCommons said. "We're focussing on ourselves this week. We didn't do that last week. We won't focus on the other teams."
(09/25/96 9:00am)
The Penn men's cross country team was soundly beaten on Saturday in its first tri-meet of the season. Navy dominated visiting Columbia and Penn, taking seven out of the top 10 spots. Scoring just 19 points (cross country teams aim to score the fewest points, with a score of 15 being a shutout) the Midshipmen achieved a near sweep of Penn runners, with only one Quaker runner finishing among Navy's lead pack. The Quakers (0-2) were led by team captain Matt Wilkinson, who finished second overall with a time of 25 minutes, 36 seconds. But as a whole, the team showed only a slight improvement in their pack running strategy. Although Penn aimed to finish together, a sizable 64 seconds separated Wilkinson from Penn's fifth-place runner Aaron McCommons. Looking to match the Midshipmen's early speed, the Quakers main pack of runners ran out to a solid two-mile split time of 10:20. After the strong start, however, the Penn runners were unable to match the speed and depth of Navy's squad, tiring over the final three miles. Left behind by the lead pack, the Quakers own group of racers splintered and could not complete their pre-race goal of finishing tightly bunched together. The battle between Columbia and Penn for second place was closer, but the Lions prevailed with a relatively easy 21-34 victory. A bright spot for the Quakers continues to be the strong showing of the freshmen racers. In Saturday's race, two freshmen -- Sean Macmillan and Joe Campagna -- scored for the team by placing among the top five Penn finishers. Macmillan improved his sixth-place performance from a week ago to finish third for Penn this past week. The Quakers hope to rebound from their defeat on Saturday, when they participate in the Iona Invitational. With a field approaching 20 schools, it should provide Penn with an opportunity to compete with many of the stronger cross country programs in the area.
(09/25/96 9:00am)
The Penn men's cross country team was soundly beaten on Saturday in its first tri-meet of the season. Navy dominated visiting Columbia and Penn, taking seven out of the top 10 spots. Scoring just 19 points (cross country teams aim to score the fewest points, with a score of 15 being a shutout) the Midshipmen achieved a near sweep of Penn runners, with only one Quaker runner finishing among Navy's lead pack. The Quakers (0-2) were led by team captain Matt Wilkinson, who finished second overall with a time of 25 minutes, 36 seconds. But as a whole, the team showed only a slight improvement in their pack running strategy. Although Penn aimed to finish together, a sizable 64 seconds separated Wilkinson from Penn's fifth-place runner Aaron McCommons. Looking to match the Midshipmen's early speed, the Quakers main pack of runners ran out to a solid two-mile split time of 10:20. After the strong start, however, the Penn runners were unable to match the speed and depth of Navy's squad, tiring over the final three miles. Left behind by the lead pack, the Quakers own group of racers splintered and could not complete their pre-race goal of finishing tightly bunched together. The battle between Columbia and Penn for second place was closer, but the Lions prevailed with a relatively easy 21-34 victory. A bright spot for the Quakers continues to be the strong showing of the freshmen racers. In Saturday's race, two freshmen -- Sean Macmillan and Joe Campagna -- scored for the team by placing among the top five Penn finishers. Macmillan improved his sixth-place performance from a week ago to finish third for Penn this past week. The Quakers hope to rebound from their defeat on Saturday, when they participate in the Iona Invitational. With a field approaching 20 schools, it should provide Penn with an opportunity to compete with many of the stronger cross country programs in the area.
(09/20/96 9:00am)
Coming off a solid second-place finish in its opening race of the year, the Penn men's cross country team will travel to Navy this Saturday in a tri-meet against the Midshipmen and Columbia. Leading the team is senior captain Matt Wilkinson, who finished first overall last week completing the five mile course in 26 minutes, 5 seconds. Wilkinson will be aided by an inexperienced, but talented group of freshman who performed well at their first collegiate meet. Last week the Quakers were satisfied by their second-place performance at the Towson St. Invitational, losing out to just the University of Maryland in an 11-team field. Most importantly, the team stuck to its pre-race goal of running as a pack. After Wilkinson, the next 11 Penn runners finished within 32 seconds of one another. "We accomplished what we set out to do which was to run as a pack," sophomore Matt Blodgett said. Since these meets do not actually count towards any post season qualifications, last week's meet was a chance for the team to practice a strategy that will likely prove successful by season's end. While running as a pack will again be a focus of Saturday's meet at Navy, the team members plan on putting a greater emphasis on winning. "We'll set out more for the win this week in addition to trying to run as a pack," Blodgett said. Much of the emphasis will also continue to revolve around the performance of the new freshman. Six of the top 10 Penn finishers were freshman. Penn's second- place finisher at Towson St. was freshman John Kroll, sixth overall in a time of 27 minutes. Since the Quakers are relying on the freshman to carry a large burden for the team, one may suspect that there would be a lot of pressure on them. However, Kroll said that this is not the case. "Coach hasn't put too much pressure on us," Kroll said. "He's done a good job helping us adjust." Freshman Sean Macmillan, who finished 11th overall at Towson St., said that having so many quality freshman runners made the adjustment to college running easier. "I expected to come out and do well, but having so many of us takes part of the pressure off," Macmillan said. This Saturday's race will be another opportunity for the men's cross country team to practice its pack-running strategy in competition. While the Quakers hope to defeat Navy and Columbia, they know that this race is really a preparation for more important races that will come later in the fall. "We want to be more aggressive," Wilkinson said. "Navy is going to want to take it out fast. We need to stay focused so we can be aggressive in the second half of the race."
