The runners have taken their places. It’s a beautiful, sunny Saturday in April, and the competitors are lined up in front of a crowd of over 40,000 at Franklin Field.

Like any aging lady, Franklin Field got a facelift this year — and it is a big one. The new surface of Penn’s track is immaculate — the colors pop out enough to make any graphic designer jump with joy.

Three Ivy League championships. Two All-American selections. Three qualifications at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Elite athletes of all varieties will head to Franklin Field this weekend, as collegiate superstars in several different events will use the Penn Relays to tune up for NCAA Finals and, hopefully, the Rio Olympics.

There’s succeeding, and then there’s success. When the Villanova Women’s Distance Medley Relay team collected its first Penn Relays title in 1984, not even the school itself could have predicted the decades of success that were to follow. The Distance Medley Relay, or DMR, is a race that is comprised of four legs, each of varying length.

Sometimes things just don't turn out as you expect them to. As the Penn softball team gears up for the final contests of the regular season this weekend against Columbia (13-30, 5-11 Ivy), that seems to be the overarching theme.

The state of Penn Athletics is strong — and it’s getting stronger every day.

He came to Penn with dreams of seeing the Quaker track team become a powerhouse, and leaves University City with dreams of racing in the Olympics.

Quite literally, it's anybody's game. A chance at the Ivy League title is at stake for Penn, and every other team in the conference. Penn baseball (18-19, 9-7 Ivy) will play a four-game series against Columbia (13-23, 7-9) this weekend, with Friday's doubleheader being played at Penn and Saturday's games to be played in New York.

For nine members of Penn women’s lacrosse, Saturday will be a day of lasts. The last time they head on an Academy bus for the six-hour trek up to Cornell.

When I first set out on being a sports reporter, I did it for a girl.

Last one, fast one. In their final cup race of the year, Penn heavyweight rowing is headed to Ithaca to take on Ancient Eight rivals Cornell and Dartmouth.

With graduation almost here, and a farewell to four unforgettable years on Locust Walk, you might already be making plans for graduation trips, time at home and beginning your first full-time job.

As a junior transfer student, I have the unique perspective of having gone to Vassar College, a small liberal arts school which is in many ways the polar opposite of Penn. The joke I like to tell about Vassar is that “It’s a small liberal arts school, which is very small, very liberal and very artsy.” The entire Vassar student body is the size of one year at Penn.

Phyllis Rackin, an English professor, helped open up opportunities for women in academia.

This past Monday, the newly-formed LGBT Health and Wellness Working Group held its first meeting. The group operates as part of the LGBT Center Advisory Council, which also oversees other working groups focused on development, faculty diversity and student engagement. 

The card game company, known for its crude and unusual antics like selling a box of bull feces literally labeled “Bullshit” on Black Friday, offered her a full four-year scholarship to earn her STEM degree.