While most of his peers were playing little league baseball and Pop Warner football, senior Ben Nace was focusing on a more unorthodox athletic pursuit - becoming a world-class rower. Although he now hails from Dallas, Nace credits his family's northeastern roots for inspiring him to pursue his passion for rowing.

When the men's tennis team faces off against Brown and Yale at Lott Courts this weekend, junior Justin Fox hopes "history will repeat itself." Penn has beaten both New England schools by a 5-2 margin, each of the last two years and wants to make it three in a row.

Before heading back on the road, the Penn's women's lacrosse team still has to tie up one loose end at home. The Quakers (8-1, 3-0 Ivy) look to extend their six-game win streak against Harvard at Franklin Field on Sunday. On paper, the Quakers should breeze to a win.

Time is ticking for the men's golf team and its upperclassmen. With only two tournaments left before Ivy Championships, the seniors - Michael Kornheiser and captain Dean Merrill - are almost finished their collegiate careers. They will continue their final quest for an Ivy Title at the Notre Dame Invitational in Sount Bend, Ind.

In its second weekend of Ivy play, the Penn women's tennis team faces opponents at two ends of the spectrum Yale (5-8, 1-0 Ivy) has butted heads with a number of national powerhouses; Brown (9-5, 0-1 Ivy) is a middling team with a schedule softer than a Tempur-pedic.

Some of the country's fastest runners will meet tomorrow at Franklin Field for the annual Penn Invitational. Nearly two dozen schools - including strong Ivy foes Cornell and Columbia - will compete. On the women's side, Penn's four All-American runners - Jesse Carlin, Claire Kim, Stacy Kim and Shaunee Morgan - are top seeds in the events in which they will compete.

Two years ago, the Penn and Harvard softball teams used a rain delay to stage an impromptu dance party. But this year's Quakers will go to Boston on Sunday with a very different mindset: Revenge for their 2007 Ivy League Championship loss. Before Penn (16-8, 3-1 Ivy) plays two against the Crimson (7-14, 0-2), it will take a seven-hour bus ride to Hanover, N.

When legendary Penn rower and coach Joe Burk passed away in January, the current men's heavyweight crew team lost a valuable role model but gained insight into the legacy he left behind. Burk's passing set the tone for a successful off-season that emphasized personal development.

As the Penn men's lacrosse team ran onto the practice field yesterday, shouting and cheering, it was clear that last Saturday's 13-5 loss against No. 8 Cornell wasn't on anybody's mind. The focus this week has been tomorrow's matchup with Dartmouth (4-4, 0-1 Ivy).

Harvard's record is a measly 1-17 overall and 0-2 in the Ivy League. Dartmouth was dead last in the Rolfe Division last year. But Penn's top starting pitcher and captain Todd Roth is not looking forward to the northward road trip his team has on tap. "It's probably gonna be a really long weekend," he said.

In the fifth inning of yesterday's nightcap against Saint Joseph's, Penn's seemingly-safe 6-1 lead appeared to be slipping away. Paul Cusick walked two in the top of the frame and allowed the Hawks to pull within three runs before he stranded the bases loaded.

Scoring in the first minute, and going on a 4-1 run in the middle of the first half, the women's lacrosse team appeared to be running away with a victory against No. 15 Johns Hopkins last night. But the Blue Jays stormed back in the second half and scored five unanswered goals in the final 22 minutes.

Tom Grandieri is nothing if not considerate. He saved his first collegiate homer for yesterday afternoon, on a day when his older brother - former Penn basketball captain Brian Grandieri - didn't have a single class to interfere with his spectator duties.

When Christina Khosravi stepped to the plate in the ninth inning - the second frame of bonus softball - she had redemption on her mind. The senior co-captain got what she wanted, lacing a single into the right-centerfield gap to plate the fifth and winning run over La Salle.

Watching Jessie Lupardus dominate hitters now, it's hard to imagine that just four months ago they were dominating her. "I gave up five earned runs, a lot of hits, and it was really a wake-up call," Lupardus said of her first fall exhibition game. "In the offseason I worked my butt off, and being able to come out and show that I am the anchor of the staff is something that is really important to me.

When the women's lacrosse team traveled to Baltimore last year to take on Johns Hopkins, the then-No. 14 Quakers upset the No. 12 Blue Jays 12-4, giving Penn its first-ever win over its Maryland rival. But this year, the tables have turned. The No. 8 Quakers (7-1) are now the higher-ranked team and look to avoid a revenge upset by the No.

Perhaps women's golf coach Francis Vaughn is a fan of the recent Adidas advertising campaign, "Impossible is Nothing." After another disappointing finish in his team's second tournament of the spring season, Vaughn still believes that the Quakers have a chance to compete at the Ivy League Championships in April.