If the Penn softball season were a cookbook, yesterdays games would follow a familiar recipe: start with a manageable opponent, add in a slow start, mix in a comeback attempt, let it sit for a while and you get another nail-biting loss. Yesterday's doubleheader against a struggling Drexel squad once again ended in disappointment, as the Quakers fell 6-5 and 5-3 at Drexel Field.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of comeback. And truth be told, it very well could have happened twice in one day. Down 10-0 going in to the seventh and final inning of its opener against Lehigh yesterday, Penn looked to be done for. The Quakers were being no-hit by Cory Kent and Jordan Warncke, and only one runner had reached base.

Two years ago, Liam Boylan-Pett anchored Columbia's 4x800 meters relay team to lead the Lions to their first Penn Relays championship since 1938. Boylan-Pett will return to the Penn Relays this season but in a different uniform. The former Relays champion is still competing, now as a graduate student at Georgetown.

For senior Leah Brogan, it will be all about savoring the experience. When she steps on the track Friday for her final Penn Relays, she will be taking in every moment, realizing they will be her last competing for women's track and field in the storied meet.

In addition to new runners on the track, this year the Penn Relays will have a different feel. The construction on the north side of Franklin Field, as well as the closure of the South Street Bridge, will bring a number of changes to this year's Penn Relays.

The Penn relays are four days of track and field mayhem, and the main draws are undoubtedly the sprinting events at the high school, college and professional levels. But on Thursday and Friday especially, the casual Relays spectator can catch a host of lesser-known events, especially three field competitions.

In the last 60 years, beloved Philadelphia comedian Bill Cosby has been a mainstay of the Penn Relay Carnival. He started off modestly as a competitor way back in the late 1940s and has competed on just about every surface at Franklin Field. While in junior high he participated in the 4x75 yard relay on the infield, and when he moved on to Central High School he ran in the 4x110 relay.

For former Penn placekicker Kendall Hochman, revenge is a dish best served cold. Really, really cold. The 32-year old Hochman is over 15 years removed from his blocked field goal attempt that would've beaten high school rival Phillipsburg, but he is still looking for closure.

Good weather isn't the only thing the Penn men's track and field team hopes will return this weekend. With some injuries plaguing the team, the Quakers hope to return to top form in time for the commencement of the Penn Relays. If the Red and Blue can do so, coach Charlie Powell is sure they will find success starting tomorrow.

With a 7-0 Ivy record, the Penn women's lacrosse team has already taken the title of Ivy team of the year. But it's a little harder to predict the Player of the Year. The finalists were recently released for the Tewaaraton Trophy - awarded to the nation's best male and female lacrosse players as voted on by coaches.

When Penn faces Lehigh this afternoon in a doubleheader in Bethlehem, Pa., they will be playing, to borrow the title from Michael Shaara's classic baseball novel, For Love of the Game. But not exactly for the reasons Shaara wrote. Indeed, the Quakers (13-22, 2-14 Ivy) simply don't have much else to play for with the postseason so far in the rearview mirror.

With only six games left in the season, the Penn softball team is determined to make every one count. The Quakers (12-25-1, 7-9 Ivy) will have two chances to do so today, as they take on slumping Drexel (20-16) in a 3 p.m. doubleheader this afternoon at Drexel Field.

They have had the best conference record of any sports team at Penn for the last four years. They have defeated the likes of Duke and North Carolina. And no, it's not the Penn Fencing, W. Squash or W. Lax teams. Instead, over the past four years, the Penn women's club water polo team has compiled a spotless Mid-Atlantic Conference record of 45-0.

With a 7-0 Ivy record, the Penn women's lacrosse team has already taken the title of Ivy team of the year. But it's a little harder to predict the Player of the Year. The finalists were recently released for the Tewaaraton Trophy - awarded to the nation's best male and female lacrosse players as voted on by coaches.

Read the related article here.

The year: 1973. The scene: the National Fencing Championships in Tuscon, Ariz. Dave Micahnik had advanced to the semifinals in his quest to earn a fourth trip to the Olympics. A year earlier Micahnik had narrowly missed a finals berth at Nationals. After his elimination in the semifinals he stood in the middle of the floor, took his epee in both hands and tried to break it - but it wouldn't break.

Da Vinci, Newton, Franklin: meet Rawlings. Ted Rawlings, that is. Penn Athletics' very own Renaissance man. The sophomore has his hand in four different Penn varsity programs.