Mark Froot has battled back pain since he was 14 years old. So after aggravating his back earlier this week, the junior anticipated a struggle entering last night's match against Franklin & Marshall. "You kind of know when you're about to go through a peak or a valley," he said.

According to the Nebraska Corn Board, there are more than 3,500 different uses for the almost omnipresent vegetable. Ethanol, high-fructose corn syrup and starch are just some of the more prominent maize manifestations. The Penn wrestling team (6-4, 3-0 EIWA) hopes to add "redemption" to that list when it battles the No.

Like many Penn seniors, Alex Grendi spent his winter break looking for a job. But instead of on-campus interviews, he did his networking on the soccer field. The Columbus Crew selected Grendi 45th overall in last Thursday's Major League Soccer SuperDraft.

After being named Ivy League Rookie of the Year as a freshman and first team All-Ivy as a sophomore, Jonathan Boym entered his junior season on the men's tennis team with high expectations. But after being sidelined for most of the year with a shoulder injury, he was forced to shift his focus to his upcoming senior campaign.

Much has happened around here since January 2007. An exciting political primary battle, a sex change for Logan Hall and a championship for a city that could scarcely recognize the word. And yet, for all the unexpected news that made its way across the wire over the past 24 months, the following never did: Penn beats a Big 5 opponent.

The men's squash team better enjoy it while it lasts. Coming off of break, Penn's schedule featured matches against a number of weaker opponents. And after taking care of Amherst and Williams on Saturday, the No. 7 Quakers head to Franklin & Marshall tonight for their final match of the season against another team ranked outside of the top eight.

Talented but inconsistent guard Remy Cofield has left the basketball team permanently and will transfer at year's end to a college closer to his home in Newton, Mass., according to a two-paragraph athletic department statement released yesterday. "Remy has been dealing with some ongoing family situations and has reached a point where he feels it is in his best interests to spend more of his time focusing on them," coach Glen Miller said in the release.

NEWARK, N.J., Jan. 17 - The scariest thing about the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Fleisher Center isn't who plays in it. The Highlanders' basketball team has set historical lows since entering Division I after the 2005-06 season and, naturally, don't boast a particularly impressive set of weapons.

Senior swimming captain Chaz Maul is familiar with breaking things. After fracturing his hand in the beginning of the season, Maul jumped back into the pool this Saturday and shattered a long-standing Dartmouth pool record in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 56.

It was home sweet home for the men's squash team on Saturday. Playing at Ringe Courts for the first time in six weeks, Penn downed Amherst, 9-0, in the morning and handled Williams, 6-3, just hours later. The No. 7 Quakers (5-2, 1-2 Ivy) had an auspicious start to the semester and to their stretch of four non-conference contests.

Junior squash player Kristen Lange won her first two games, 9-3, 9-0, against Williams' number one player, Toby Eyre, but when it came down to game three, she felt herself lose some control over the match this past Saturday. "I got really anxious and started trying to end the points really quickly," Lange said.

Like most of his Penn teammates, sophomore guard Harrison Gaines looked lethargic in the first half against winless NJIT. From the outset, the Highlanders were determined to slow the pace of the game and deny the ball to Penn's first option, Tyler Bernardini.

After a tense day of trading wins with Yale, the Penn women's swimming team needed to place first and second in the 400-yard freestyle relay - the day's last event - to tie the meet. Unfortunately, the women finished first and third, and as a result, the Bulldogs beat the Quakers, 152-148, in the Penn-Yale-Dartmouth tri-meet in Hanover, N.

When you're in a rut, sloppy seconds may not look so bad - even if they are coming from the likes of Columbia and Yale. Disheartened by Navy, demoralized by UCF and destroyed by Temple, the Quakers (3-8) are headed to the Garden State tomorrow to take on NJIT, a team emerging from back-to-back thrashings by the Lions and Bulldgos a mere week ago.

Ivy League Tournaments have finally arrived. After 55 years of determining championships through regular season round robins, tiebreakers and one-game playoffs, the Ivy League announced that men's and women's lacrosse will be the first sport to hold a conference tournament to determine its automatic NCAA qualifier.

The women's squash team looks unbeatable - again. After winning its first six matches of the season for the third straight year, Penn will host No. 9 Williams and No. 17 Amherst tomorrow for its first matches at Ringe Courts in nearly two months.

Men's track coach Charlie Powell has one goal for the Quakers in the winter meets at the beginning of the season: to qualify for championship meets starting with the IC4As. "This is only our third meet," Powell said. "We try to get people to qualify for championship meets, such as the Heptagonals, IC4As and eventually the NCAAs.