Sophomore Luke Grau crossed the finish line of his 8K race with a time of 24:51- and only one sneaker. Grau proved himself in more ways than one at the Paul Short Cross Country Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa., on Friday,where Penn finished 12th. Coming in 20 seconds -but 25 places overall - behind teammate and fellow sophomore Chris Baird, Grau opted to abandon his unstable sneaker after another runner had stepped on his heel about one mile into the race.

In the two games leading up to Saturday's showdown at Dartmouth, the Penn women's field hockey team had finally overcome the slow starts that had plagued its season. But within two minutes, Dartmouth scored and stopped Penn's progress. The Big Green added another before halftime en route to a 3-2 win.

Bruce Springsteen has spent his life writing music on the American dream. Now, he says, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama is the man who can make that dream a reality. On Saturday, Springsteen, the legendary singer and songwriter also known as "The Boss," performed in downtown Philly for a free public concert on behalf of Obama in the final push before today's voter registration deadline.

Ramifications from the troubled credit markets touched home last week as the University found $100,000 it had invested in a short-term fund managed by Wachovia Bank had been frozen, according to Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli. The money was held by Commonfund, a nonprofit management firm for educational investments.

If Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has her way, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will be a shadow of its former self. Under Spellings's recently proposed plan, FAFSA would cut the number of questions it asks from over 100 to roughly 27.

Sophomore midfielder Sarah Friedman came into Saturday's match with Cornell knowing she could shatter Penn's single-season assist record. "Kristin [Kaiser] and Kaitlin [Campbell] and I were researching Cornell, and one of the Web sites had written something about it," she said.

As his campaign wraps up a vigorous voter registration drive in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama spoke on Friday in Montgomery County - a region closely divided between registered Republicans and Democrats. Yet nearly one-third of Obama's 6,000 audience members on Friday will not vote in November.

After sharing his tales of war-time reporting and primary-debate moderating, CNN host Anderson Cooper left Irvine Auditorium full of captivated students eager to learn more. With the same mission in mind, The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down with Cooper for a few minutes to discuss reporting, politics and his lack of culinary skills.

In May, I was dumped by e-mail. I received an notice from Student Financial Services telling me I would need to select a new lender for my Federal Stafford Loan. My original lender - along with 136 other institutions - had stopped offering the loans. A couple months later, a friend at another school updated her Facebook status to say she "thinks student loan companies can suck it.

While visiting Pottruck seven days a week will burn calories, people often forget that a large part of staying healthy has to do with consuming nutritious food - not just eliminating carbs or candy. Finding fresh produce might at first seem difficult in West Philadelphia, but in fact it's possible at Clark Park, located on 43rd and Baltimore streets.

Alex Jacobson is a College junior from Los Angeles. His e-mail address is jacobson@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Penn graduates make a hefty salary - but not as much as their counterparts at Harvard and Princeton universities, according to a recent study. The online global compensation firm PayScale conducted a study earlier this summer that compared the incomes of graduates from the Ivy League schools.

Penn women's volleyball junior Elizabeth Semmens has never tasted victory against Princeton. In fact, last season, she had to swallow two bitter losses to the Tigers that were ultimately the difference between first and second place in the Ivy League. "They are big rivals," Semmens said.

For most of this season, Penn field hockey coach Val Cloud spoke about the learning curve associated with her young team. Seven losses and an upset win over Harvard later, she's singing a different tune. "They're not young anymore," she said. "It's halfway through our season.

Thinking wings or pizza for dinner? How about wasabi-crusted filet mignon from Pod or El Vez's signature guacamole? A newly struck partnership between campusfood.com and diningin.com - two Web sites that let students order food from a variety of restaurants - will give students more options for food delivery.

Some environmentalists are at a fork in the road concerning whether urban or rural areas are tops at producing harmful pollutants in the atmosphere. A recent report from the Energy Information Administration - which provides governmental energy statistics - shows that, since 1980, industrialized areas in some states have significantly reduced their carbon footprints, and in many cases, produced fewer carbon emissions than their residential neighbors.

Though the government is likely to simplify the federal financial-aid program, next year's political turnover makes it hard to predict the possible changes. As of now, shortening the Free Application for Federal Student Aid appears to be the change most likely to occur.