Several of the NCAA’s best men’s and women’s fencing teams met at the Penn’s Tse Center for the Philadelphia Invitational. Both of Penn’s teams had a successful couple of days, each notching several victories over elite opponents.

He may only be a sophomore, but pole-vaulter Sean Clarke has already established himself among the all-time great Penn track and field athletes. For that, he earns DP Sports Player of the Week recognition.

On the men’s side, the Quakers (8-2, 2-0 Ivy) left Connecticut without an individual win, falling 9-0 to the undefeated No. 1 Bantams (7-0, 2-0 NESCAC). For the women’s squad, the results were not much more glamorous, as the final tally came in 7-2 for No. 2 Trinity.

The games aren't all played in the cathedral of basketball anymore, and there's no trophy at stake for the winners, but make no mistake: This conference still matters. 

In a nearly sold-out Palestra, the Red and Blue  were locked into a hard-fought matchup the whole game against the Owls, but ultimately fell 60-51.

The seasons of both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have been defined by a series of ebbs and flows. The men sit at 4-4, the women at 4-5, and both teams have blown out and been blown out by their competitors.

11 years. That's how long it's been since the last time Penn men's basketball defeated Temple in 2007 — which is also the year of the Quakers' last NCAA tournament appearance. Behind the superb play of sophomores Ryan Betley and AJ Brodeur, the Quakers are confident they can take their first win over Temple in a decade.  

For the Quakers, the only starter who was not previously a fixture in the starting lineup is junior forward Max Rothschild. After averaging 13.6 minutes per game and starting three games combined in his first two seasons at Penn, Rothschild has averaged 23.9 minutes per game this season, starting all 17 games. And so far, he has validated coach Steve Donahue’s decision to increase his role.

Over 100 NFL hopefuls will take the field Saturday in the East-West Shrine Game, the longest-running annual college football all-star game. Watson — who is Penn’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and all-purpose yards — is one of 13 wide receivers hoping to stand out this weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla. He is one of seven on the roster for the East Team.

In this week's edition of Is Stat So?, we look at several individual and team records that were broken this weekend, as well as a few key numbers that allowed men's squash and women's basketball to emerge victorious.

Following the sweeps, two stars of the Penn men’s and women’s basketball programs, sophomore forward AJ Brodeur and freshman center Eleah Parker, were named Ivy League Player of the Week for their contributions.

Just a week after freshman Andrew Douglas’ comeback win to beat No. 6 Rochester, Penn needed another ninth game win to beat Yale 5-4. Meanwhile, Penn’s women fell to the Elis by the same score. Against Brown on Sunday, both teams eliminated any chance for a dramatic ending by sweeping the Bears 9-0.  

Both Red and Blue squads struggled in their final Ivy League meet of the regular season. The Quakers’ men fell to Harvard, 181-108, while the women fell respectively to Brown and Harvard by scores of 178-119 and 197-100. 

Experience certainly reigned supreme for Penn wrestling in their first conference dual against Army on Sunday, as Penn's senior wrestlers — Joe Olivia, Joe Velliquette, May Bethea, and Frank Mattiace — led the Quakers to their 19-18 victory on criteria. 

Penn fencing had an up and down weekend against some of the top fencing programs in the country.   The Quakers (11-4 for both men and women) had a busy weekend in State College, Pa. The men and women defeated North Carolina and Haverford but fell short to Columbia, Penn State, and Duke.

As great as this 3-0 conference start is, it’s not as if the Red and Blue are playing perfect basketball. Coach Steve Donahue acknowledged after the victory over Columbia that this team is still constantly trying to improve week to week and is learning how to close out basketball games. 

Sophomore forward AJ Brodeur filled up the statsheet for the Quakers (12-5, 3-0 Ivy) in Friday’s 69-61 victory against Cornell, only to come back the next night with an even better performance. In the Saturday night matchup versus Columbia, Brodeur led the Red and Blue in a tightly contested 77-71 victory.