The reward for competing as the squad’s No. 1 is occasionally bittersweet, as Mattsson and Ariffin have often sacrificed their individual records for the benefit of their teams.

Four individuals have been pivotal to the success of Penn’s women’s basketball this year. And they’re all freshmen.

In its final dual meet of the season, the Penn men’s swimming team fell to Harvard, 168-130. But coach Mike Schnur had only positive things to say about his team’s performance.

Friday afternoon, the Quakers defeated Columbia, 7-2, at Ringe Courts. But two days later, they were swept by Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., to complete their regular season.

Saturday, despite being significantly undersized, sophomore Steven Graziano won in the 285-pound weightclass, 5-2, against Columbia’s behemoth — No. 27 Kevin Lester. His win in the final round gave the Quakers a 19-18 victory over the Lions.

Princeton handed Harvard its 23rd consecutive loss at Jadwin Gym to destroy the Crimson’s hopes of a perfect Ivy season. And suddenly, the Ivy League race became interesting again.

The men’s squad entered the tournament as a favorite, but lost to the Crimson in their first match Saturday, 14-13, ending their chance at an undefeated season. The women fell to a similar fate.

The team snapped its losing streak on its trip to New England, but not before one more game was tacked onto it

A night after its toughest loss of the season to No. 25 Harvard, Penn almost let one slip away against the Ivy League’s worst team.

The Quakers were down by five at halftime, but Harvard got hot in the second half, and Penn couldn’t keep up with the Crimson.

In the last home meet for seniors on the Penn men’s swim team this Saturday, the Quakers (8-3, 3-3 Ivy) must take on the Crimson (5-2, 5-1) in their last chance to add a big ‘W’ to their home record.

The last time a nationally ranked Ivy League basketball team walked into the Palestra, it walked out with a loss. Now Penn faces the same situation against No. 25 Harvard.

Harvard is the antagonist to the Ivy saga this year — a growing danger, challenging the “traditional” Ivy power structure of Penn and Princeton.

In Mike McLaughlin’s first season, a 1-24 Penn team fell in Boston, 55-52, on a three with 1.3 seconds left. Last season, the Crimson survived two overtime periods and 38 points from Alyssa Baron to win, 88-84.

Cornell may have already claimed the Ivy League title, but there’s still a lot at stake for the Penn wrestling team.The Quakers face Columbia at the Palestra this Saturday before traveling to Lewisburg, Pa., to compete against Bucknell Sunday.

Undefeated and the only team to knock off No. 1 Penn State, the Penn men’s fencing team will enter this weekend’s Ivy League tournament confident but cautious.

For most people, gaining or losing 10 pounds is a major transition. For some on the Penn wrestling team, though, it’s nothing out of the ordinary.