Search Results
Below are your search results. You can also try a Basic Search.
(03/22/00 10:00am)
Michael Bamberger, a 'Sports Illustrated' writer, spoke at Penn last night. Penn students have told Michael Bamberger that he was lucky to have attended Penn 20 years ago, since today, his SAT scores might be too low for him to be accepted. Regardless, the Sports Illustrated senior writer jokingly maintained that he's at least as smart as the 35 students who came to the Kelly Writers House last night because they, not he, braved the pouring rain just to receive some words of advice from a writer. Bamberger, a 1982 Penn graduate, came to the Writers House as part of the Alumni Writers Series. Bamberger discussed the roots of his budding writing career which began in the office of The Daily Pennsylvanian in 1980 when he wrote an article about students scalping tickets for a Bruce Springsteen concert at the Philadelphia Spectrum. "Read as much as you can, write as much as you can," Bamberger advised students interested in pursuing a career in writing. He appears to have taken his own advice, as his portfolio includes newspaper and magazine articles, sports novels and a play. Before arriving at Sports Illustrated -- where he has been a senior writer since 1995 -- Bamberger wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer for nine years. Spending as much time as possible with the subject of the piece is the best way to capture his or her personality, Bamberger said. He should know: In his career, Bamberger has profiled the likes of baseball superstar Mike Piazza, former Major League Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent and the entire 1999 World Cup-winning United States women's soccer team. He did, however, admit that it can be difficult -- and sometimes even impossible -- to make certain athletes receptive to the idea of being followed by a reporter. Take, for example, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Albert Belle, who is as well known for his clubhouse tirades as for his home run power. Bamberger told a laughing audience of an encounter he once had with the slugger. Belle would not speak to the reporter, leaving Bamberger to write a feature story for Sports Illustrated that used only one quote from the subject himself: "Sports Illustrated can kiss my black ass." "He viewed me as a parasite," Bamberger said. Bamberger went on to field questions ranging from Michael Jordan's relationship with Sports Illustrated in the early 1990s to Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker's controversial remarks made several months ago to the magazine. Bamberger repeatedly stressed that the most important responsibility of the writer and the publication is to the reader. Bamberger admitted problems may arise when a writer has spent time with a subject and develops a personal relationship with the source. The reporter, Bamberger said, must always maintain his or her integrity because that is the most important attribute that a writer can possess. But the discussion did not focus solely on sports. In fact, Bamberger also discussed the art of writing and reporting. After the talk, College sophomore Lenya Bloom called Bamberger's message "excellent." "He did a good job balancing between sports and all interests," Bloom said. College junior Todd Wise introduced Bamberger. "A lot of people in the Penn community are interested in sports," Wise said.
(03/22/00 10:00am)
The Quakers beat two ranked teams, but fell to three more on their trip to the West. The five nationally ranked teams that the Penn women's tennis team played over spring break in California and Las Vegas might have all thought they would have no trouble sweeping the unranked Quakers. They were wrong. Penn overcame No. 68 UNLV and No. 44 Illinois State on March 12 and 13, respectively. And even though the Quakers lost handily to Oklahoma State, Fresno State and Stanford, Penn sophomore Carla Dorsey believed these matches were all closer than the scores may make them seem. "Their players aren't better athletes than us," Dorsey said of the killer trio. "But they play their big points a lot better. [On points] where we might get timid, they play it out. They have a lot more experience with big points, and it's the big points that count -- they're what make the scores look lopsided." Penn started out their West Coast matches by beating UNLV, 5-4. Penn captain Elana Gold said the Quakers were especially happy about beating the Rebels since they regularly vie with the best the Western conferences have to offer. The next day, the Quakers took Illinois State, 6-3. Gold's match was especially impressive. After losing the first set, 6-1, and being down 5-1 in the second set, she took the match to the third set and pulled off a win. No. 52 Oklahoma State gave Penn a little more trouble. At No. 6 singles, Penn sophomore Jolene Sloat didn't let the Cowboys' Cameron Stout win a single game, while Penn's Rochelle Raiss took Ashleigh Dolman, 6-1, 6-4. Raiss then teamed up with Penn junior Lenka Beranova to play doubles, and the duo overcame Dolman and Maria Galoustova, 8-4. The Quakers team of sophomore Louani Bascara and Anastasia Pozdniakova was tied at 8-8 before losing the match in a close tiebreaker. The next two schools the Quakers faced -- Fresno State and Stanford -- were probably the toughest teams they will see all season. Penn was unable to take a single match from either school. At No. 1 singles, Pozdniakova took Fresno State's Kandiss Creighton to three sets after falling 6-1 in the first set. Beranova lost her match by a close 7-5, 7-5 margin at No. 2 singles, while Justyna Wojas lost to the Bulldogs' Kelly Ramirez after a 7-5, 6-3 battle. Before heading home, the Quakers faced No. 1 Stanford at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium to challenge some of the top tennis players in the nation. "The whole atmosphere of playing the No. 1 team in the country in their stadium with a huge scoreboard was a little intimidating," Penn coach Michael Dowd said. "But we stepped up and played very well. We played some of the best tennis we played all year." At No. 3 singles, Penn junior Shubha Srinivasan faced Gabriela Lastra -- who is currently ranked No. 68 in the country -- in an intense three-hour battle. Srinivasan took the first set, 7-6, before Lastra came back and finished the match, 6-3, 6-4. "Shubha played an amazing match," Gold said. "[Playing Stanford] was fun, because we had nothing to lose." Doubles was the Quakers' strength in the Stanford match. Raiss and Beranova lost their close match at No. 1 doubles, 8-7, and Bascara and Pozdniakova fell, 8-5. Gold believes that the upcoming Ivy season -- which begins April 1 against Princeton -- almost looks easy after playing at such a high level of competition. "We all got a lot closer [over spring break]," she said. "When it comes down to four-all in an Ivy match and you feel united with your team, you're going to want it that much more for yourself and everyone else." But Dowd emphasized that the team can never get too satisfied with its performance. "We saw the highest level of competition we'll see all year. From here on out, we won't see teams as good as these," he said. "But the Ivy season is in the horizon, and we have to keep pushing."
(03/21/00 10:00am)
The regular dual-meet season may be over for the Penn women's fencing team, but for two of the Quakers' top fencers, there is still much left to be accomplished. Freshman epeeist Kim Linton and fellow freshman foilist Lauren Staudinger advanced to the NCAA Championships with strong performances at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Region Championships this past Sunday. Linton, seeded ninth going into the tournament based on her season performance, finished 11th in the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional on Sunday, making her the eighth-best epeeist in the region, based upon the NCAA's weighted rankings system. That result was good enough to make her one of the nine epeeists representing the Mid-Atlantic/South Region at the NCAA Championships this coming weekend at Stanford. Staudinger, who was seeded eighth, finished in seventh place in the region both for the tournament and overall on the season. She will also represent Penn at the NCAAs this weekend. "I'm glad that we have two [fencers] going," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "And the fact that they're freshmen gives them good experience for the future." Three other women also went to regionals, but were unable to qualify for the NCAAs. Sophomore sabre Abby Lifter made it to the final round but was stifled once she got there, finishing in 12th place. Freshman Christina Verigan, who was arguably Penn's top sabre fencer all year, went 1-4 in her pool and was knocked out in the first round, finishing in 19th place. Despite this poor result, Verigan remained optimistic for the future. "I have three more years to go -- I'll make it next year," she said. "Now I'm motivated to work over the summer and train harder in the off-season." Freshman foilist Stacey Wertlieb rounded out the field with a 13th-place finish for the Quakers. Seniors Amy Hozer and captain Heba Abdulla qualified for regionals, but they could not make it to State College, Pa., due to prior commitments. With the absence of these two upperclassmen, the weight was put on the shoulders of Penn's newcomers. Four freshmen and one sophomore represented the Quakers at regionals, forecasting a bright future for the Red and Blue. "I think that next year we will qualify more people for NCAAs," Verigan said. "Next season, I think that we'll be able to carry the team very well and uphold the tradition of high-quality fencing at Penn." Despite Penn's youth and inexperience, Micahnik was still unhappy with his team's results. The fact that the Quakers are only sending two fencers to the NCAAs gives them a handicap on coming away with a high finish at Stanford. Fencing powerhouses Penn State and Princeton are both sending the maximum of six fencers, giving them a sizeable advantage over Penn. "We needed to be a lot better," Micahnik said. "I was expecting much more." Staudinger, who was unhappy with a couple of her own losses, cited an extremely competitive field as the reason for the lack of Penn victories. "I think some more of our fencers deserved to go to NCAAs, but it was a really hard competition," she said. "It was too bad more of us didn't qualify." Nevertheless, Linton and Staudinger, the core of Penn's strong freshman class, will travel across the country and represent the Quakers, hoping to gain valuable experience for their next three years at Penn. "It's a reward for a good season, and it is a good steppingstone for the future," Micahnik said.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
In the land of oranges and senior citizens, another season began for the Penn baseball team last week. The Quakers kicked off their 2000 campaign with five wins and five losses on their Florida road trip over spring break. The Quakers' .500 record after their first 10 games constitutes a marked and encouraging improvement over last year, when they played their first nine games in California and finished 2-8 in their first 10. But Penn coach Bob Seddon is quick to point out that last year's early season schedule was much tougher than this year's. "This schedule, there were some tough teams, but it doesn't compare with last year's schedule," he said. "However, this is a much better team than last year's team. This team really has a future." The journey to that future began on March 10, when the Quakers opened the season against Florida Tech in Melbourne. Though the Quakers pounded out 11 hits -- three of them off the bat of senior catcher Jeff Gregorio, including a two-run triple in the seventh inning that put Penn ahead 8-4 -- their pitching and defense eventually abandoned them. The Quakers, who issued nine walks in the game, wilted in the eighth inning as freshman relief pitcher Ben Otero and fellow fireman Dan Fitzgerald -- who was hit with the loss -- walked four Panthers and hit two batters in the process of giving up six runs on the way to a 10-8 loss. "We let that game get away, mainly on pitchers who couldn't throw the ball over the plate," Seddon said. "Defensively, we had a good trip. We had a few errors in the first game. That didn't do us in. It was the wildness of our pitchers." The Quakers gained revenge against Florida Tech the next day as they outslugged the Panthers, 17-15. Freshman John McCreery and shortstop Glen Ambrosius, a senior tri-captain, hit homeruns in a nine-run fourth that erased a 7-0 deficit for the Quakers. Penn pitcher Matt Hepler left the game in the bottom of the inning after surrendering four runs without giving up a hit, but the Quakers went ahead for good in the next frame with seven runs -- including a triple off the bat of McCreery. On March 12, Penn traveled to Daytona and split a doubleheader, trouncing Northern Illinois, which went 4-51 in 1999, while falling to Northern Iowa -- the Quakers' best opponent on the trip -- in the day's second game, 5-3. In the first game, Ambrosius -- who is hitting .341 in 44 at-bats with a .500 slugging percentage -- launched a three-run homer in the first inning, and freshman Kevin Wells shut the door on Northern Illinois, giving up one run on one hit in 3 2/3 innings after relieving McCreery, who had given up four runs in 5 1/3 innings. Penn fell to 2-2 in the nightcap, as Northern Iowa's Brady Weber stroked an RBI single to break a 2-2 tie and put the Panthers on top for good. In the ninth, the Quakers threatened to tie the score when they had men on second and third with two outs. But left fielder Jim Mullen grounded hard to short, ending the game. The next night, Penn barely escaped with a win over Cortland State, 9-8. Junior Chris May tallied a triple and a homerun, the latter occurring in a fifth inning that saw the Quakers jump out to an 8-3 lead. Otero gave the Quakers a quality start, going six innings and giving up two earned runs. However, it took freshman Paul Grumet to shut down the surging Cortland State squad in the ninth to save the game for the Red and Blue. "He's got great potential," Seddon said of Otero. The Quakers split another doubleheader on March 14, as they fell to Tiffin in the first game, 8-6, before defeating Northern Illinois, 8-4, for the second time. In the latter game, sophomore Greg Lee was impressive in his first collegiate start, striking out 12 and giving up three runs in eight innings of work. "Greg Lee is a very, very pleasant addition," Seddon said. "He has emerged into a probable starting position. However, that was only one game. We'll see [him in his] next game." In Winter Park the next night, Penn fell to Rollins, 13-8, to fall to 4-4. Penn fell behind early, but cut a six-run deficit to one run before Rollins pinch hitter Ryan Park put the game away with a grand slam homerun in the bottom of the seventh. Sophomore catcher Brian Fitzgerald's solo homerun to left-center field in the top of the ninth lifted the Quakers to a 9-8 victory over Eckerd in St. Petersburg on March 16. But Penn fell back to .500 two days later, blowing a 7-5 lead in the ninth to Army in Tampa. Michael Cooper beat the Quakers with a one-out bases-loaded single in the ninth off of Otero, who suffered the loss after his strong showing against Cortland State. "We should have won another two games on the trip," Seddon said. "We didn't pitch. We have to pitch better to win in our league. We didn't hold opposing runners on well, and opponents stole on us far too frequently Those are the things we have to work on." However, this does not mean Seddon isn't happy with his team's performance. "Any time you come back even from Florida or any spring trip, you pretty much feel pretty good about that," he said. Seddon added that he was heartened by the Quakers' offensive production on the trip, as they averaged 8.5 runs per game. Penn will open its home season on Thursday, when it hosts St. Joseph's in the first game ever at the new stadium at Murphy Field.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
The last time the Penn women's lacrosse team beat Yale was 1994, back when current freshmen Crissy Book and Kate Murray were in seventh grade. On Saturday at the Yale Bowl, Murray came within inches of changing that, hitting the goalpost with a shot with eight seconds remaining as the No. 10 Elis (3-0, 1-0 Ivy League) topped Penn, 9-8. Murray had earlier scored a goal in the game, and Book tallied two. After two games, Book is second on the Quakers (1-1, 0-1) with four goals. Penn defeated American (1-2) in the season opener last Tuesday, 17-8. "I think [the freshmen] are really doing a great job," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "They're really doing what they need to do." The freshmen scored 13 of Penn's 25 goals in the two games over spring break. Freshman Jayme Munnelly's late goal at Yale nearly broke down the Elis' stalling defense late in the game, bringing the Quakers to within one goal of overtime. Penn played from behind all day Saturday, falling behind by three goals in the first three minutes of action. "We knew that Yale was going to be the strongest team that we've come up against," Brower said. "The first three minutes didn't really shock me that they were up 3-0. I was surprised at how well we came back on a 3-0 deficit." The Quakers struck back, refusing to let the game get out of hand. Penn trailed 6-4 at halftime, and the Quakers defense clamped down on last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Amanda Walton, who last year scored four goals against the Quakers and this year was held to three. Penn freshman Christy Bennett came off the bench to handle the responsibility of guarding Walton. "We had five freshmen starting," Brower said. "Bennett did a great job, and she's pretty much gone in and not come out since, so we pretty much have six freshmen out there who are really doing a nice job." Meanwhile, junior Amy Weinstein helped to hold Yale's other big gun on the attack, Heather Bentley, to just two goals on the day. "Our defense did really well," said Penn senior tri-captain Brooke Jenkins, who scored one goal against the Elis after a five-goal outburst at American. "They collapsed really well and stopped the other players." With her six goals, Jenkins is tied for the team lead with sophomore Traci Marabella, who is already halfway to her 12-goal total that was second on last year's Penn team. But this is a new year, and the Quakers have already matched their win total from a year ago. And such a close game on the road against a team as strong as Yale seems to have lit a fire under the Red and Blue going into today's game at Villanova. "They're enthusiastic -- real excited," Brower said. "I think after Yale they're even more excited because they've realized they can play with anybody." Penn certainly had no trouble with the Eagles after shaking off the opening-game jitters. The Quakers were only up by one goal until Jenkins found the net with 4:10 remaining in the first half to put her team up 5-3. After that, the rout was on. Penn scored three more goals in the half to the Eagles' one and scored the first three after intermission to put the game relatively out of reach at 11-4. Penn hit on 17-of-24 shots at American and is shooting at a 61 percent clip for the season's first two games, while holding its opponents to 46 percent shooting accuracy. Jenkins, Munnelly and freshman Dalton Cox have yet to miss a shot, while Marabella fanned on only one of her seven shots in the two games.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
Peter Traber immediately ended Penn's relationship with the Hunter Group. After four weeks as interim head of the Penn Health System, Peter Traber received the job on a permanent basis last Friday and immediately announced that he was ending UPHS's engagement with a controversial health care management consulting firm. Traber will continue to act as interim dean of the Medical School during a nationwide search, which is required by University regulations. Officials say Traber is the frontrunner for that position. The Florida-based Hunter Group was brought in last July to recommend ways in which UPHS could slash its expenses. Last month, the firm's consultants were retained once again to help ease the administrative transition after the ouster of longtime CEO and dean William Kelley. In another administrative move Thursday, Robert Martin -- who resigned as chief operating officer of the Health System three weeks ago -- agreed to resume his role as COO. Officials yesterday confirmed that Martin had disagreed with the decision to use Hunter Group executives as consultants and that the release of the Hunter Group was a major factor in Martin's decision to return. In an e-mail announcing the appointment, Rodin called the 44-year-old Traber an able leader with a deep knowledge of the Health System. But he has not been named the permanent Medical School dean because University rules require that a national search be conducted before an academic dean is named. "Our trustees, medical faculty and staff have great confidence in him, as do I," she said. Traber said yesterday that he was pleased to be named permanent CEO of the troubled $1.9 billion Health System. "I'm very excited about it," he said. "It's good for the organization to have permanent leadership to move forward." Traber said he decided to end the engagement with the Hunter Group because he felt the firm was no longer needed. Barchi said yesterday that Hunter Group CEO David Hunter would remain available to Traber if his services are needed. The Hunter Group's engagement was, however, at least partly responsible for Martin's decision to resign. "He wasn't sure that the Hunter Group would have added value to the organization," Traber explained. In an e-mail sent out last Thursday, Traber called Martin "the best person for the job" of returning the Health System to financial stability. The Health System has incurred deficits totalling more than $300 million over the past three years. Neither Martin nor executives from the Hunter Group returned calls for comment yesterday. In his e-mail, Traber said UPHS has made progress in responding to its financial problems, but he said that having a single person as both dean and CEO is essential for the Health System to run smoothly, especially because of the Health System's role as the principal source of funding for the school. He said he is very interested in being considered as a candidate for the position. "The dean is the chief academic officer of the School of Medicine. To me that's the most important position," he said. "Being CEO is an important part? but that's not what I want to be alone." Officials have not given a timetable for when a dean could be named, but they have maintained that University rules require that a search committee be appointed before a dean can be selected. Barchi said yesterday that Traber will be a candidate for the position. "We have indicated that he would be seriously considered," he said. Health care analyst Joshua Nemzoff of New Hope-based Nemzoff and Co. said yesterday that some might interpret the fact that Traber was not named permanent dean as a possible precursor to a separation between UPHS and the Medical School. "You could read into it a little bit as whether the University is still going to spin the hospital off," he said. But Nemzoff added that the University could appoint a different dean and CEO without having intentions of separating from the Health System. He noted that Kelley's role as both CEO and dean is more the exception than the rule. "It's not exactly common for the guy who runs the health system to be dean of the medical school," he explained. Medical School Professor Harvey Friedman said he thought many faculty members would simply prefer that Traber be named dean. "The view of the faculty is that one good person making decisions is better than having two people making decisions because it's coordinated," Friedman said. Other Medical School professors said they hoped the faculty will be consulted in any decision concerning administration. "We certainly hope there will be faculty input," said Howard Herrmann, the chairman of the Medical School Faculty Senate's steering committee. Herrmann said the fact that Traber has remained interim dean does not imply that administrators are considering separation.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
The award-winning documentary Eyes on the Prize has become such an important bearer of the legacy of the civil rights movement that it is now incorporated into the curricula of high schools and colleges alike. Yesterday evening, the man who wrote the companion guide to the series told a group of about 20 students about how they, as individuals, can strive to be like the pioneers of one of the century's most galvanizing movements. Juan Williams was invited to speak by organizers of the Penn Humanities Forum, which is sponsoring the week-long program called Human Nature-Human Rights. It was fitting that Williams addressed the crowd yesterday, on the day the program was exploring the civil rights movement, since Eyes on the Prize chronicles it from its peaceful beginnings in 1954 to the more riotous times of 1968. At the beginning of yesterday's session, Deputy Provost Peter Conn called the week-long program "a preeminent venue for lectures, discussions and films where issues of the most academic and public significance are discussed." Williams' talk also included a film screening of three of the series' episodes: "Ain't Scared of Your Jails," "Bridge to Freedom" and "Back to the Movement." The three segments use live interviews, authentic video and media coverage of historic occurrences -- like the march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery Ala., and the race riots in Watts and Detroit -- and effective use of voice-overs and music. In his nearly hour-long talk, Williams discussed the importance of individual involvement in such a movement. "Individuals with even the minimalist standard of strength can join in a coalition to achieve social change," Williams said. Williams, who is the host of National Public Radio's Talk of the Radio and a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday, emphasized that several of the acts of civil disobedience illustrated throughout the film helped produce some of the victories in equality that black Americans enjoy today. He told the story of Barbara Johns, a young African-American girl in the 1940s, who noticed racial inequality in the school system of Prince Edward's County, Va. She called numerous law officials -- including then-NAACP member Thurgood Marshall -- in an effort to call attention to the segregation. Through her hard work, she brought lawyers on her behalf to Virginia, and the case was later used as part of the famous 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, that overturned the "separate but equal" edict. History Professor Thomas Sugrue, who offered opening remarks, called the film "a powerful act of remembrance." "It is a call to our conscience and a challenge to our complacency towards injustice in the United States," he said. Added College sophomore Sharon Appelbaum, one of the students in Sugrue's class on the 1960s, "I first saw portions of this film when I was in middle school and I remember the images of the fire hoses and police dogs being very strange and shocking to me."
(03/21/00 10:00am)
Despite the chilly temperatures, government officials and community organization members ushered in spring yesterday morning by announcing their plans for funding to improve Clark Park, University City's largest public space. The Clark Park Renewal Project -- a joint effort by the University City District and the Friends of Clark Park -- is designed to increase the level of maintenance in the nine-acre park, located at 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue, by raising $70,000 to hire private landscapers. "We have found out that everybody is willing to come together and make [this project] all that it could be," City Council majority leader Jannie Blackwell, whose district represents West Philadelphia, told the approximately 25 leaders of community organizations present. A sum of $25,000 has already been donated by many local organizations and businesses, including Penn. The Drumcliff Foundation -- a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization that supports environmental causes -- has pledged $20,000 for the next five years if the partnership sells $20,000 worth of tickets for the "Party for the Park" on May 4. "I'm not only optimistic that we're going to get to the $70,000. I think we're going to blow right past it," said John Fry, the chairman of UCD's board of directors and Penn's executive vice president. UCD Executive Director Paul Steinke cited the collaboration between a city agency, a community organization and a special services district as integral to the implementation of the renewal project. "Today, our partnership blossoms on the first day of spring, right here in Clark Park," Steinke said. Up until a month ago, Clark Park was maintained by the Philadelphia Department of Recreation and volunteers from the Friends of Clark Park, who continually planted, watered and weeded. But according to District 9 Manager of the Department of Recreation Vincent Pancetta, applications for permits have shot up over the last year. Pancetta pointed out that the park's popularity has increased, as it is now home to a Farmer's Market, local soccer leagues, festivals and a large number of neighbors who come to enjoy the open space, trees and flowers. "Those of us who live in West Philadelphia recognize the good things we have," said State Rep. James Roebuck, who was at the briefing. "Clark Park is one of those good things." However, as more community members frequent Clark Park, wear and tear on the green spaces also increased. So in 1999, the Philadelphia Department of Recreation approved a plan constructed by the Friends of Clark Park and UCD that is going into action this month. Moon Site Management was selected through a bidding process as the new private landscape contractor for Clark Park. Cynthia Roberts, president of the Friends of Clark Park, said Moon Site Management will supplement the work provided by the Department of Recreation by trimming, mulching and pruning the greenery. "This is just one step of many, many steps in creating the kind of community we want to have in West Philadelphia," University of the Sciences President Philip Gerbino said.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
The senior, wrestling at 157 pounds, helped lead the Quakers to a ninth-place national finish. ST. LOUIS -- There were no tears of joy. There was no fist-pumping revelry. In fact, at his press conference, Wharton senior Brett Matter seemed to be breathing a sigh of relief. Just minutes before, Matter won the NCAA wrestling championship in the 157-pound weight class. He became Penn's first NCAA champion since Richard DiBatista in 1942. In front of 16,795 fans at the Kiel Center in St. Louis on Saturday night, Matter beat Larry Quisel of Boise State in a tight, 4-2 bout. His victory helped propel Penn to a ninth-place team finish -- its highest in 60 years. While Matter was clearly the star for the Quakers, his fellow tri-captains, senior Bandele Adeniyi-Bada and junior Rick Springman, also earned All-America honors. Springman finished fifth at 174 pounds, while Adeniyi-Bada took sixth in the heavyweight division. "Accomplishing your goals is an unbelievable feeling," Matter said after the match. "It's almost given me peace of mind. I put in so many hours and sacrificed so many different things over my college years, over high school, and now to see it actually come true is unbelievable." In his four years wrestling at Penn, Matter compiled a record of 128-14, making him Penn's all-time winningest wrestler. He also earned All-American honors at last year's NCAA championships, placing fifth. And with his title at the NCAAs this year, Matter and his father, Andrew, joined just three other father-son pairs to win a NCAA championships. Andrew Matter won back-to-back titles at 167 pounds for Penn State in 1971 and 1972. Matter's older brother, Clint, also wrestled for Penn, winning an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association title and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in 1997. Wrestling success has become a Matter family tradition, one that Brett seemed destined to uphold. "Brett usually won the tournament that he was in," Andrew Matter said of his son's early wrestling career. Brett posted a 125-9 record at Delran High School in New Jersey and won two state titles. When it came time for college, Matter chose the Wharton School over his father's alma mater. And when it came time for Brett to challenge for the national title, his father was there to dispense first-hand advice. "[My advice was] try to stay focused and be prepared that it's going to be a long three days," Andrew said. "I've talked to him about this tournament and how he has to prepare himself to win it ever since he's been old enough to listen to me." Despite the tremendous family legacy, Brett said he did not feel any extra pressure to win. "[My father] told me I should have won by five or six points, but he always says stuff like that," Matter said. "I think it's his way of building my confidence -- I don't know. He's always been very supportive. He never made me wrestle." As Andrew saw his son write his way into the Penn wrestling history books, he said watching from the stands was more trying than competing on the mat. "It's a lot more nerve wracking when you're not wrestling," he said. "When you're out there wrestling, you're not nervous. All the nerves have to go away after you shake hands. But when you're up here you're nervous the whole time." Indeed, Brett gave his father something to be nervous about in his semifinal match against Corey Wallman of Wisconsin. Matter took a 1-0 lead into the final period against Wallman, but was reversed late in the bout to fall behind, 2-1. With nine seconds left, Matter took the down position on the mat, needing at least an escape point to take the match into overtime and to keep his title hopes alive. With three seconds left in the bout, Matter reversed Wallman, going up, 3-2. He held on to win and advance to the finals match with Quisel, who had beaten Iowa's top-seed and heavy favorite T.J. Williams in overtime just moments earlier. The two semifinal matches -- held on adjacent mats simultaneously -- provided high drama for the record-setting Kiel Center crowd. Quisel took defending champion Williams down to win his match just as Wallman reversed Matter. "I was sitting there for a minute, because [the Penn and Wisconsin coaches] were arguing about something," Matter said. "I saw Quisel win, and then I knew that I had to get out." Quisel's win denied Matter the opportunity to avenge his only loss of the year, a 5-3 decision to Williams in December. Before the match with Quisel, Williams, a sophomore, had not lost a match in his college career. "I think it's very ironic that we started in October and trained every day through yesterday for Williams and it didn't happen," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "We were ready and in some ways disappointed that Brett didn't have the opportunity to wrestle Williams." Williams or not, Matter was determined to achieve a goal he had set for himself since childhood. "I've always been confident that I was going to win," he said. "I think it's natural to have some doubt, but a true champion erases that doubt right off that bat."
(03/21/00 10:00am)
Unlike other universities, Penn has decided to take no action against Napster.com, an MP3 provider. Making downloading MP3 music files off the Internet simple and easy, Napster.com has turned thousands of personal computers across the country -- especially at college campuses --into virtual jukeboxes since its inception a year ago. The brainchild of a former student at Northeastern University in Boston, Napster was geared at college students whose thirst for music and high-speed access to the Internet allow quick downloads of megabyte upon megabyte of music. But its design has proved to be a burden on some college networks by turning hundreds of networked computers into an army of servers, draining bandwidth away from regular applications such as Web browsing and, in some cases, nearly crippling over-extended systems. At Indiana University, for instance, computing officials decided to cut off access to Napster last February, citing overuse of the service at the time of the shutdown. "The expectation was that the level of traffic was going to be 81 percent [of Internet use] much too soon," IU Information Technology Policy Officer Mark Bruhn said. "And that was unacceptable." IU's decision was preceded by the same restrictions made at a slew of schools, including Brown, Northwestern and Tufts universities and the University of Texas. "It's something that just doesn't scale well for a university campus," Brown Computing and Information Services Senior Network Specialist Don Wright said. But while many schools have decided to banish Napster from campus, Penn officials say that they have no plans to place filters that will block the service. In a recent statement released by the Office of Information Services and Computing, University officials outlined Penn's policy with regard to the growing controversy surrounding Napster. The statement revealed no plans to cut off access to the service, merely cautioning users to be aware that they are exposing the contents of their computer to millions of outsiders and potential hackers and warning them of their individual liability should they be accused of copyright violations. Vice Provost for Information Services and Computing Jim O'Donnell said that the University's network was not seeing the same problems that other colleges were experiencing, citing Penn's large Internet connection and the currently small scale of Napster use on the network. Upon opening the Napster program, users are greeted by a message that clearly states the company's disassociation from any illegal actions that its users choose to take part in, effectively claiming that Napster itself only provides a service that can be used for good or ill. Bruhn agreed with that assertion, saying that the decision to cut off access had nothing to do with whether students were allegedly engaging in wholesale piracy, despite student objections that IU was engaged in censorship. "It was not anything other than a technical capacity issue. We weren't telling them they couldn't get their Tori Amos or James Taylor," Bruhn said. In addition, the recent lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America against Napster, alleging illegal distribution of copyrighted material, questions the service's legal right to even exist. But O'Donnell concurred with Napster's position on the legality of their service. "I don't think anybody will be able to say it's illegal and block it on those grounds," O'Donnell said. The major users of network access remain Web browsing and net services. But O'Donnell said that if Napster usage or any other large non-academic information transfers were blocking regular network services, the University was ready to take action to halt it. "If we find any system, or any site or anything creating difficulties for the campus as a whole, we know how to deal with that," O'Donnell said.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
The Quakers were close, but never quite caught up to No. 4 seed Illinois WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- For the Penn Quakers, the door was open. The chance to pull off an upset was right in front of them. But as the seconds ticked off the clock, that chance slowly slipped further from their grasp and soon disappeared as the clock wound down at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Fourth-seeded Illinois would be the one to move on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and the 13th-seeded Penn men's basketball team (21-8) would soon find itself on a plane back to Philadelphia from Winston-Salem, N.C. Penn's Ivy League championship season came to an abrupt end last Friday, as the Fighting Illini (22-10) came away with a 68-58 victory in the first round of the Eastern Regional. "We had a number of opportunities in the second half, but we missed a couple of easy chances at that," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "Against a team like Illinois that will hurt you badly." Penn's inability to capitalize on their chances indeed hurt in the end. Despite limiting star Illinois guard Cory Bradford to just five points on 2-of-9 shooting and forcing 11 turnovers in the second half, the Quakers were just never able to close the gap. Part of the reason for the loss was the fact that center Geoff Owens and senior point guard Michael Jordan found themselves in early foul trouble. Part of it was because the Quakers shot just 34.6 percent from the field in the second half, and part was that the Red and Blue could not get to the foul line enough. These parts added up to a victory for Illinois, which went on to fall to Florida in the second round on Sunday. "We were pleased with the number of turnovers we forced. We were disappointed that Mike [Jordan] and Geoff [Owens] got into foul trouble," Dunphy said. "A culmination of a lot of those factors leads to the fact that a good team like Illinois wins the game." Another reason for Illinois coming away with the win was the stellar play of freshman point guard Frank Williams. While Bradford, last year's Big 10 Freshman of the Year, was never able to make an impact against the Quakers, it was Williams who did much of the damage. The freshman scored a career-high 21 points in 35 minutes of action. "[Williams] stepped up and made some outstanding shots. He penetrated and laid the ball up, and we didn't play well enough defensively," Jordan said. "He is a good player, a scoring machine and that is what he did." It's also exactly what the Quakers did not do. Penn opened the game with a 6-2 lead on three-pointers by Ugonna Onyekwe and Matt Langel. That lead, however, did not last very long. With 17 minutes and six seconds remaining in the first half, Williams buried a three. That sparked a 16-0 run by the Illini, giving them a 18-6 lead, one they would never relinquish. Penn eventually closed that lead, but as the margin got smaller, the Quakers started finding themselves in foul trouble. With 11:52 remaining in the half, Jordan picked up his first foul. Thirty-nine seconds later, Dunphy had him on the bench with three personals. "I never got three fouls in the span of like 30 seconds before," Jordan said. "I should have backed off, but I try to play with as much intensity as I can." Owens also found himself on the bench with three fouls of his own as the first half wound down. With starting Illini center Brian Cook only playing 13 minutes, Owens was often matched up with reserve center Marcus Griffin, who finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Griffin consistently found his way to the basket, and the Quakers often reacted by fouling. "That was one of our main focuses going in," Griffin said. "We had to let them know the Big 10 is a rough, tough conference." With Owens seated on the sidelines, Dunphy turned to reserves Oggie Kapetanovic and Koko Archibong. As time expired in the first half, Kapetanovic hit a short baseline jumper to pull the Quakers to within five at 34-29. It seemed as though Penn might have finally gained the momentum. After a turnover by Bradford to open the second half, Jordan made a slashing drive down the lane to cut the Illini's lead to three. Three minutes later, as Frank Brown swished a jumper from the top of the key, Penn was only trailing by one at 38-37. But then it all fell apart. Three-pointers by Langel missed the mark, and Onyekwe's layups just would not go down. During the last minute, Penn resorted to fouling the Illini. Illinois buried most of its foul shots and walked off the court with a 68-58 win. And so, an Ivy championship season came to an end. The Langel-Jordan era in the Penn backcourt is over. A 16-game winning streak was halted, and the Quakers returned home with another less-than-memorable tournament performance. The chance was there, but Penn was simply not able to take hold of it.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
Penn had its chances against the Illini, but struggles on offense led to its downfall. WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- With 7:57 left in the first half of its NCAA Tournament game against Illinois Friday afternoon, it looked as if the Penn men's basketball team had been caught in an Illini ambush. The Quakers trailed, 27-12. Penn guard Michael Jordan had just checked back into the game, but the co-captain had three fouls on him, all of which were whistled in a 39-second flurry in the ninth minute. The Red and Blue were hoping that they had hit rock bottom and that their Big 10 foe wouldn't be able to turn it into a blowout before the break. From then until halftime, the Quakers fought back with a vengeance. Fueled by deft offense-defense substitutions by Penn coach Fran Dunphy that allowed Jordan to steer clear of a lethal fourth foul, the Quakers narrowed the gap in a hurry. Frank Brown scored five points; Geoff Owens and Ugonna Onyekwe had two apiece; and Jordan sank two clutch three-pointers during this stretch. When halftime arrived, Illinois led, 34-29, and Penn had more than a fighting chance. "I thought we were fortunate to be down by five," Dunphy said. "We talked about being down less than 10 with two minutes to go in the first half. We did that and then some." It looked as if Penn was in perfect shape to come out with the victory if the Illini floundered after halftime. Coach Lon Kruger's team wound up playing a very sloppy second session -- turning the ball over 11 times, compared to just three mishandles for the Quakers. But this did not translate into an upset. Illinois faltered, but Penn never capitalized. The second half was a story of missed opportunities. The Quakers defense played admirably, forcing a bevy of turnovers and shutting down Illinois from the outside -- nine of the Illini's 11 second-half field goals came from inside the key. "We were pleased with the number of turnovers we forced," Dunphy said. Despite these 11 Illini miscues, Penn was able to manage just 10 points off turnovers in the second stanza. The principal reason for its inability to forge ahead of the No. 4 seed was Penn's uninspiring shooting from the field. The Quakers shot just 34 percent from the floor, compared to 55 percent for Illinois. "We had a number of opportunities in the second half to close the gap, but we missed a couple of easy chances at that," Dunphy said. "Against a team like Illinois that will hurt you badly." The Quakers narrowed the lead to just one point, 38-37, following a Brown jumper with 16:58 left. Penn went scoreless for the next 2:27 as Illinois stretched the lead back out to seven with a Cory Bradford layup. For the remainder of the contest, the Quakers committed just one turnover. The Illini gave up the ball eight times in the same span, but Penn's final margin of defeat still wound up at 10. Perhaps the most confounding stretch for the Quakers began with 6:40 to go in the game. Penn was on a 4-0 run on the strength of an Onyekwe 15-footer and layup by the power forward after a Matt Langel steal. The score stood at 57-50. And that's where it stayed for three frustrating minutes. Even though Illinois turned over two possessions in this period, Penn was unable to notch a basket. Langel, Onyekwe and Oggie Kapetanovic each missed a shot. Onyekwe's hurt the most -- a blown transition bucket off of a Jordan steal. Despite strong defense, Penn would never get within seven for the rest of the game. The Quakers' lack of production in this span hurt them severely. By the time Penn scored on an Onyekwe dunk with 2:28 left, time was tight, and the outcome was almost in hand. Six unanswered Illini points later, the Big 10 runners-up were ahead, 56-52, with a minute remaining. The Quakers had been unable to erase the lead when they had the chance. The shots had not fallen, and their season was over because of it. Penn's performance from the field could have been somewhat less do-or-die if they had done better on the boards in the second session. Illinois outrebounded the Quakers in a big way in the final 20 minutes. The young Illini grabbed 22 total boards, six off the offensive glass and 16 on defense. Those numbers doubled Penn's total of 11 boards, only four of which came on defense. Penn's poor rebounding performance was due largely to the absence of Owens from the Quakers lineup. The second team All-Ivy selection played just three minutes in the second half because of foul trouble, getting called for his fifth foul with 7:36 left. Owens, who was averaging 7.4 boards per game, had just four against the athletic Illini. Owens' early departure added to Penn's list of "what-ifs" in this game of missed opportunities.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
The University arranged deals for service with two commercial ISPs. Officials yesterday released plans for moving Penn's off-campus Internet users from the soon-to-be discontinued modem pool to commercial service providers. The modem pool has provided free on-line access since 1986. But with new, faster technology available in the private sector, officials decided to discontinue the pool by mid-2002. So starting in July, users will be charged to dial into the service and will be encouraged to switch to a commercial Internet service provider. "Our modem pool is obsolete," Vice Provost for Information Services and Computing Jim O'Donnell said yesterday. "It's too slow, and it's too small and it's getting slower and smaller by the day." On July 1, the approximately 15,000 dial-up users -- predominately students, faculty and staff who live off campus -- can choose between continuing to use the modem pool for $13 a month, or use a commercial provider. ISC officials have negotiated preferred relationships with DCANet and Bell Atlantic, two commercial ISPs, to provide services to students for $12.95 per month. The private ISPs will provide students with a 56 kbps connection, which is significantly faster than the 33.6 kbps dial-up offered by the Penn modem pool. Additionally, the private ISPs will give students unlimited use of dial-up services, while the University dial-up pool terminates the connection after one hour of use. "Our recommendation is that if you want quality of service, you go with one of the $12.95 service providers," O'Donnell said. He estimated that the technological advantages of the commercial ISPs will prompt students to change from the Penn service to the private sector within the next two years at the rate of approximately 3,000 users per six months. "It's a pain to make the changeover, but at some point people are going to sit down and look at it and realize they can get better, faster service for the same amount of money," O'Donnell added. To make sure DCANet and Bell Atlantic are providing users with quality services, ISC will run a pilot program with 180 users in April. With this service, the University will pay a user's ISP fees for the first three months provided that the user provides detailed and specific evaluations of the commercial service. "We want to make sure the commercial providers are doing a good job," O'Donnell said. "That's a way to make sure real Penn people are getting the quality of service necessary for Penn purposes." O'Donnell said running the modem pool costs the University around $1 million each year. And to update the 33.6 kbps service to 56 kbps -- the current speed of commercial ISPs -- would cost the University an additional million dollars. While users will be charged for the basic dial-up use of the modem pool, a smaller "express pool," where users can dial in for 15 minutes, will remain free. That way, O'Donnell said, students will be able to quickly check their e-mail without being charged. "We're not doing this for the money," he explained. "We're doing this so users can get the technology they need at Penn."
(03/21/00 10:00am)
For the Penn gymnastics team, Saturday's ECAC Championships at the Palestra was one of the best meets of the season. The Quakers scored a second-place team finish, had two individual champions and earned two ECAC awards. Earning a score of 190.675, the Quakers finished only 1.175 points behind champion James Madison, much better than their No. 4 seed heading into the meet. "It was a good, solid meet," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "James Madison did a nice job and deserved to win the championship." However, nothing impressed Kovic more than the collective performance of his team. "They truly gave their best effort -- they never gave in and never let down," Kovic said. "To finish with that score is a great way to go out." Penn sophomore and DP photographer Lauren Hittner was crowned the ECAC all-around champion with a score of 38.600 and then was later named Co-ECAC Athlete of the Year, along with James Madison's Betsy Hernandez. "Lauren had a brilliant day. She went in and hit four-for-four. She's a worthy regional contender and she proved that Saturday," Kovic said. The balance beam title was captured by Penn senior Becky Nadler, adding to her 1998 ECAC floor exercise and 1997 balance beam championships. En route to her title, she broke Penn's balance beam record -- which fell three times Saturday alone -- with an outstanding score of 9.950. "It was great to win beam and set a new record. It was just like my freshman year. I gave it everything I had and don't have any regrets," Nadler said. The Quakers' beam team established a new school record for the event, with a 49.125. That point total was also the highest among all teams in any event. "To say balance beam was our strongest event is an understatement," Kovic said. "Beam was our last event and we went into the rotation behind James Madison and William and Mary. Not only did they have enough energy and focus to do well, but to perform in record-breaking style speaks volumes." Penn senior Kirby Thorpe was awarded the ECAC Scholar Athlete of the year award, capping off a solid performance in the last meet of her career. "It sounds cheesy, but as I was flying through the air on my dismount [on uneven bars] knowing that it was the last time I'd ever be doing that, it felt damn good to know that I had just done exactly what was expected of me from the rest of my team," Thorpe said. Collectively, five personal-best scores were earned by Penn senior Joci Newman, junior Jenn Capasso and sophomore Jean Troast. For Newman and Capasso especially, the feats marked triumph over adversity. "It was a great meet, my last meet, and I couldn't ask to go out on a better note, my beam routine and making my [personal best score in] vault," Newman said. Capasso returned from a hyper-extended knee suffered during the Quakers' dual meet with Wilson, which kept her sidelined during the Wolfpack Invitational on March 11. "Not only did we get her back into the all-around, but she really stepped up for us in all of the events and scored personal bests in the uneven bars, balance beam and all-around. It was just great," Kovic said. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the meet was the absence from the lineup of Penn captain Lizzie Jacobson, who was out with food poisoning. She was still at the Palestra, however, to cheer the Quakers on. "I am so proud of everyone. We pulled together as a team and made this really count," Jacobson said. The Red and Blue's performance was typical of their season, with a solid overall team score, broken school records and new personal bests.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
Crime during last week's spring break period dropped to its lowest level in recent years, highlighted by just two serious incidents and a small number of minor thefts. University Police said that only 12 criminal incidents were reported between March 10 and March 20, reflecting a rate not significantly different from the rate in weeks when campus is more fully populated. Victims in neither of the more serious crimes sustained major injuries or losses. The most significant incident of the week occurred in the early morning hours of March 10, when a female University student reported that she was grabbed by an unknown man while walking on Woodland Walk, located behind Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. According to the student, the man crept up behind her and grabbed her by the neck, at which point he warned her not to make any noise. Seconds later, he fled in an unknown direction without taking anything anything. The student was not hurt in the incident. In the other serious reported crime, a house on the 300 block of South 40th Street was burglarized later the same day. Police responded to a call from concerned neighbors and arrested two 19-year-old New Jersey men, identified as Joshua Simmons and Johnny Bravo, whom police observed attempting to remove items from the residence. The two men had apparently gained entrance to the house through a skylight. A check of the premises later confirmed that they did not remove or damage anything. The other 10 crime reports include three bicycle thefts and seven minor thefts from within automobiles and area buildings. The total value of all items reported stolen was about $3,600. Police officials are crediting certain preventative measures with helping to reduce crime, including an off-campus registering program which allowed vacationing students to request that police patrol the area around their homes several times a day during break. "I was pleasantly surprised," University Police Deputy Chief of Investigations Thomas King said. "The checks and patrols went pretty well." The registration program, King added, has been specifically successful in both preventing crime and establishing bonds between the police and off-campus residents. "It's something that we're working on as we reach out to the off-campus locations, and we're really trying to extend the program," he said. "It seems to be working." King said that while University Police are proud of the recent drop in crime -- and specifically pleased with the results of their efforts to combat crimes such as bike theft -- the department continues to take steps to prevent future incidents. "It's a combination of factors [that contribute to the decrease in crime]," King said. "We're cautiously optimistic that the crime will stay low."
(03/21/00 10:00am)
Penn finished ninth as Brett Matter became its first NCAA champion since 1942. ST. LOUIS -- The bar is officially raised. The Penn wrestling team continued its steady climb into the national wrestling elite with a ninth-place team finish at the NCAA Championships this past weekend at the Kiel Center. The top-10 finish is the team's first since 1942, when it finished eighth. The tournament also saw Penn produce its first NCAA champion since Richard DiBatista won back-to-back titles in 1941 and 1942. Senior captain and two-time All-American Brett Matter took home the individual title at 157 pounds, beating Boise State's Larry Quisel, 4-2, in Saturday night's final. Captains Rick Springman (174) and Bandele Adeniyi-Bada (heavyweight) also earned All-American honors for the Quakers, placing fifth and sixth, respectively. Mike Fickell (197) fell one round short of placing. The road to the top 10 has been a gradual climb for Penn under coach Roger Reina, who has seen his team's national ranking improve throughout his 14 seasons. "We had the same number of athletes in the semifinals as [eventual champion] Iowa did," Reina said. "We had a finalist and champion. Oklahoma State [had] no one in the finals. "There's some pretty significant comparisons here with the elite programs in the country. I think we made some waves out here." Seeded No. 2 in the tournament, Matter almost hit a serious road bump on his way to the finals in his semifinal match against No. 11 Corey Wallman of Wisconsin. After a scoreless first period, Matter escaped to start the second period for a 1-0 lead. Matter held his narrow lead until very late in the third period, when Wallman got a reversal to go up 2-1. Matter took the down position with nine seconds left in the match, his riding time advantage erased. Matter needed an escape to tie the match and send it into overtime, but with three seconds remaining, Penn's all-time winningest wrestler got a reversal of his own to squeak out the close victory. "I saw my coaches' expressions after I got reversed, and I was pretty confident that I was going to get out, but I wasn't expecting a reversal," Matter said. "I was just going more towards escaping and going into overtime." Matter's semifinal win set up a finals match with fifth-seed Quisel, who shocked the Kiel Center crowd with his dramatic overtime win over top-ranked T.J. Williams of Iowa. Quisel -- who at last year's NCAA Championships placed third and won the Gorrarian Award for most falls -- took the heavily favored Williams down in overtime. Matter, who saw Quisel beat Williams as he took the down position at the end of his match, did not get the opportunity to avenge a 5-3 loss he suffered to Williams at the Midlands Open in December. Instead, he used a late first period takedown to propel him to the NCAA title. After the takedown, he rode out Quisel the rest of the period, building a 2-0 lead. He escaped to start the second period and added another escape point after a Quisel takedown. A scoreless third period left the final score 4-2. Matter and his father, Andrew, join just three other father-son pairs to win NCAA titles. Andrew Matter won championships for Penn State in 1971 and 1972. Adeniyi-Bada earned All-America honors for the second straight year, improving on his eighth-place finish last year. Coming in as a No. 5 seed, Adeniyi-Bada wrestled his way into the semifinals with a close, 3-2 win over Illinois fourth-seed John Lockhart. But in the semis, Adeniyi-Bada ran into Minnesota's massive top-seed and eventual champion Brock Lesnar. Adeniyi-Bada had lost a 5-4 match to Lesnar in the NWCA All-Star meet, but this time Lesnar dominated the match, building an 11-0 lead before pinning Adeniyi-Bada at 6:41. "It's something that might have affected his confidence somewhat," Reina said. "I think Bandele didn't fully get himself up from that semifinal disappointment." Adeniyi-Bada was pinned in the consolation semifinals by Boston College's Antonio Garay -- who won this year's Gorrarian Award. He then lost his fifth-place bout to Tim Courtad of Ohio University. Springman, who was one round short of placing last year, lost a semifinal match to Josh Koscheck of Edinboro. The two had split two close matches this year -- a 1-0 win for Springman at the Midlands and an overtime win for Koscheck at the All-Star meet. But Koscheck used two takedowns to grab a 6-4 victory in the rubber match. After losing in the consolation semis to Randy Pugh of Northern Iowa, Springman came back with a vengeance, winning a convincing 8-1 decision over Mark Dufresne of Lehigh. It was the fourth time the EIWA rivals had met this year, and the second time in the NCAA Tournament, all resulting in victories for Springman, who spent most of the year ranked No. 2 in the nation at 174 pounds. "Rick was heartbroken again," Reina said. "He set his goals at the top -- he came here to win. It's a real character test to have to rebound, and Rick has character in spades." Penn regrouped from an up-and-down dual meet season, in which the Quakers went 9-5 and finished ranked No. 15 in the nation, to regain a level of accomplishment not seen since before World War II. The Quakers are no longer just the Cinderella team from the Ivy League. With its ninth-place follow-up to last year's 11th-place finish, Penn has shown continued and consistent improvement on a national level.
(03/21/00 10:00am)
Michael Tobin died at FIJI one year ago today. The campus is still feeling the aftershocks. Michael Tobin died at FIJI one year ago today. The campus is still feeling the aftershocks.Part one of four In the early morning hours of March 21, 1999, Michael Tobin's lifeless body was found lying behind the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house at 3619 Locust Walk. Tobin, a 26-year-old alumnus and FIJI brother, fell down a flight of stairs to his death after a night of drinking at the fraternity house and in local bars. Stunned by the death, the campus was forced to examine its social climate, with particular attention paid to student alcohol abuse. Within days, University President Judith Rodin announced a ban on alcohol at undergraduate events while the school reviewed its policy. Students erupted angrily in protest against the decision, staging the largest student rally the school had seen in the 1990s. More than 1,000 students gathered on College Green to protest the lack of consultation with students prior to the implementation of the ban. But despite the heated campus controversy, students, administrators and faculty members worked together on a task force --Ethe provost-led Working Group on Alcohol Abuse -- which in five weeks produced a series of recommendations for a new alcohol policy that administrators hoped would, over time, change Penn's social culture. The policy, which was fully implemented in the fall, called for new disciplinary and educational measures, increased monitoring at on-campus parties and also outlined an ambitious range of social programming goals. The committee's hope was that through more social outlets -- such as the recommended alcohol-free music club or late-night movies -- students would have other options besides drinking on a Saturday night. A year later, the number of big fraternity parties has visibly decreased, and there are University-sponsored alcohol-free social events every weekend. But students say the amount of drinking at Penn has remained constant and that the culture at Penn -- long known as the social Ivy -- has stayed the same, with many parties simply going underground. "Parties a year ago were much bigger, though I think now we still have the same amount of alcohol," College junior Kelli Toland said. Still, administrators and WGAA members say that while changes cannot happen overnight, definite progress has been made in shifting the campus social scene away from just drinking. "You can't expect students who are used to a certain lifestyle to suddenly make the change," said Undergraduate Assembly Treasurer Michael Bassik, a College junior who served on the WGAA. "It's a part of the overall goal of changing the culture towards [the recognition] of the abusive use of alcohol," said Provost Robert Barchi, who spent much of his first months in office dealing with the fall-out from Tobin's death. Bassik, who currently serves on Barchi's alcohol advisory group -- the Alcohol Rapid Response Team -- added, "We can't attempt to change the number of students who drink, but [to change] the environment in which they drink." Over the past semester, the University has worked with various groups and organizations on campus to increase the number of non-alcoholic social options available to students. The 12 college houses are each responsible for hosting three events per semester as part of the Penn P.M. program. Each house is assigned three random dates for a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. It is then at their discretion to plan the activities. In addition to the implementation of new events and activities, Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee said that there has been an increased awareness of pre-existing activities. "It's unfair to say that a year ago nothing happened at Penn except parties where people drank," Brownlee said. The activities at Harrison College House have been lauded and very well attended, according to House Dean Art Casciato. Rooftop dances with specific themes, ranging from Sinatra and Antipasto to salsa dancing, pool tournaments and all-night movie marathons have been just a few of the house's offerings this past semester. The Office of the Vice Provost for University Life has also been a leader in the planning of non-alcoholic entertainment options for Penn students. The neighborhood festival, the Def Comedy Jam and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher have all been part of the VPUL's offerings, according to Alcohol Policy Coordinator Stephanie Ives, whose position was created last fall as a result of a WGAA recommendation. And student groups on campus have also taken the initiative to plan activities for University students. The Social Planning and Events Committee, for instance, has hosted movie screening nights at Irvine Auditorium, as well as concerts. Coffee houses and Kelly Writers House events have also been offered. Barchi also noted that the opening of Perelman Quadrangle this summer will provide a range of eating options and late-night social spaces catering to student needs. He added that other social recommendations, such as the proposed bowling alley, will come to Penn if it can find space and resources. But as University-sponsored social events have increased, the number of on-campus parties have gone down -- perhaps because of the increased party monitoring. Greek on-campus parties have severely dropped off and there has been a visible movement of once on-campus parties to off-campus locations. Wharton senior Bill Conway, the former chairman of the Undergraduate Assembly and a WGAA member, recalled his freshman year at Penn, when "there were three or four fraternity parties every weekend." The Phi Kappa Psi brother added that "the amount of on-campus parties has been steadily declining for a long time? and the alcohol policy just sped that up." Conway noted that those who want to drink still have that option, but "almost to a stronger degree because [they'll] go somewhere unmonitored." Conway also noted the negative ramifications that have resulted from the University's stance. "This could just be my perception, but I feel like there is more drug use, and I think that people who have a problem with alcohol are in more danger," he said. Drug and Alcohol Resource Team President Molly MacDonald, a Nursing junior, said she believed that the new policy had not affected drug use on campus. She did add, however, that she saw an increase in illegal drug use during Spring Fling last year, which occurred in the middle of the five-week alcohol ban. "I think a lot more people were under the influence of substances than in years past," she said of last year's Fling, attributing it to the alcohol ban. Administrators said there are no plans to make Penn a dry campus again. And most WGAA members said they are pleased with the progress of the policy over the past semester. Barchi said he likes that many parties have moved off campus to monitored locations, such as bars or restaurants. "These are the best places where you can have these kind of events," he said, noting that he has the highest confidence in registered off-campus functions.
(03/10/00 10:00am)
Last fall, the Penn men's golf team accomplished something that it has never done in team history -- the Quakers finished a tournament under par. That weekend, the squad captured the Georgetown Hoya Invitational by shooting two-under-par, winning by 11 shots over runner-up Navy. "Collectively, we shot some of the best golf ever?. It was awesome," Penn senior Rob Hunt said. After coming off a strong fall season, the Quakers enter this spring season with plenty of optimism. "The fall season was successful," Penn senior captain Rob Goldfaden said. "Georgetown [Invitational] showed that we are cable of competing with anybody. It showed that we had a talented team." The only complaint that Penn coach Francis Vaughn might have with his team was its lack of consistency in the fall. "We weren't quite consistent," Goldfaden said. "We had some good tournaments, some OK tournaments, but luckily no bad tournaments." Goldfaden went on to say that there was nothing specific that the team had to work on, but a wining formula will need to feature hard work and practice. "We should win the Ivy League Championships if we practice real hard," Goldfaden said. "There are guys on the team who have been practicing on their own in the offseason." After taking the frigid winter off, the squad will play six tournaments in the spring, including the Ivy League Championships in the middle of its season on the weekend of April 15 and 16. The Quakers will commence play over spring break as Vaughn has planned a trip to Palm Beach, Fla., for his team. Penn will probably get a chance to play at the esteemed West Palm Beach Country Club and Emerald Dunes golf courses. "It won't take long to get back into form. We know what it's like to take the winter off. We'll be ready," Goldfaden said. After playing a few rounds of golf next week, the team will start tournament play at the East Carolina Invitational on March 16-18.
(03/10/00 10:00am)
This Sunday at Penn State, Penn's best fencers will ry to earn bids to the NCAA championships. Last weekend, the Penn men's fencing team got revenge on Princeton when it took second place -- one spot ahead of the Tigers -- at the IFAs at Yale. This Sunday at the NCAA Regionals at Penn State, strong performances will win the Quakers something equally, if not more, important -- bids to the NCAA championships. Twelve of the Quakers will head to State College where they will compete against a selective group of fencers from the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey and states to the south. "It's a business trip, not a celebration," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "We're going there to try and qualify as many fencers as we can to NCAAs." Regionals are invitation-only -- to qualify, a fencer must have fenced in half of his team's meets and won half of his bouts. Qualification for NCAAs is based upon season evaluation -- which considers a fencer's personal record, the number of bouts won against high-ranked opponents and the strength of the team schedule -- in addition to the fencer's final placement at regionals. Though regional placement is important in determining NCAA qualification, sophomore epeeist Jim Benson noted that a lackluster performance on Sunday will not necessarily disqualify a fencer. "If you had a really good season and you did badly at regionals, you could still go to nationals," he said. On Sunday, fencers will be seeded into pools. Competitors will be eliminated in each round, and the tournament will end with a 12-person round robin. Penn sophomore sabre Jeff Lee noted that fencers will be under less pressure in the regional competition -- and individual tournament -- because their results will not directly affect the team. But strong performances at NCAAs boost a team's rankings. Lee and junior foilist David Cohen are optimistic about the Quakers' chances for qualifying for NCAAs. Last year, five Penn fencers made the cut -- including epeeists Charles Hamann and Scott Eriksen and sabre Mike Golia, who hope to repeat their NCAA-qualifying performances at regionals. But Lee is aware that the competition at regionals will be fierce. "There are less people, but better competition," he said. Penn Athletics Compliance Coordinator D. Elton Cochran-Fikes noted that in its region, Penn has one of the highest numbers of participants. "That speaks volumes of the competitiveness of the Penn fencing team," he said. Penn is coming off an impressive 10-4 season and has been training all week for regionals. "Some of the people will do very well," Micahnik said. "But we can't all do very well. We're in an extremely strong region." For senior captain David Liu, regionals may be his last collegiate competition. "It's my last shot at NCAAs," he said. "I will be disappointed if I don't make it. But the team and I have had one of the best seasons since I've been a Penn fencer." And even though the tournament cuts into the the first weekend of spring break, Lee said the Quakers are looking forward to the trip. "Team trips are always a blast," he said. "We always have fun."
(03/10/00 10:00am)
This spring, the Penn women's golf team looks to improve upon the strides it made this past fall in its first full season with varsity status. The spring season kicks off with the William and Mary Invitational April 1-2, in Williamsburg, Va. After that, the team will travel to Bethpage, N.Y., for the Ivy Championships April 15-16. But like many college students, the Quakers will be traveling down to Palm Beach, Fla., for spring break -- to get in some rounds at the storied PGA National course. Penn will also compete in the East Carolina University Invitational March 16-18, as a warmup to their April matches. "The ECU [tournament] will be a good chance to see how we're playing," senior captain Natasha Miller said. Coach Francis Vaughn, who also coaches the Penn men's team, has set team goals in terms of enjoyment and progress rather than scores, and his players have taken those goals to heart. "We're looking forward to [the spring season] with a lot of optimism," junior Jen Schraut said. "[Our goals] are to have fun and to keep improving." In three tournaments this past fall the Quakers showed steady improvements in their overall scores, even if their tournament placements did not reflect that effort. In their third and final tournament of the fall, October's Rutgers Invitational, the Red and Blue recorded the lowest score in their short history, shooting a 391 on the first day. They followed this up with an even better showing the next day, as they carded a 381 on Saturday. The two-day score of 772 was a drastic improvement over the 857 that the team shot in their first tournament of the season and may be a mark of good things to come for Penn. Since the winter prevented the Quakers from practicing outdoors at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, the five members of the team spent the offseason honing their games using a new computer system within their indoor practice facility in Hutchinson Gymnasium. As the golfer hits the ball into a net, a video camera records her form. She can then set up a split-screen in which she can compare her technique to either another one of her own swings or that of a professional. "We worked on our swings with coach [Vaughn] -- that helped a lot," Schraut said. "The past couple of weeks we've been able to actually get outside and practice some." With the arrival of warmer weather, the team should have plenty of opportunities to get in some rounds before its first match at the beginning of April. For now, though, the current squad would just like to keep building on its success, asserting that the sub-400 rounds they recorded at Rutgers are a reasonable expectation for both spring tournaments. "Our goal is to keep up the pace we had in the fall," Miller said. "We want to keep team morale up and make sure that we make constant improvement." Prior to this year, the women competed as members of the Penn golf program as part of a mixed team. However, the combination of interest by the student body and a generous gift of $250,000 from the Pappas family provided the funding to boost the women's golf program up to varsity status.
