Rising murder rate, poverty problems among problems next mayor will face during term

Penn can now party like it's 1997. With a 13-1 thrashing of Cornell yesterday, the Quakers clinched at least a share of their first Gehrig Division crown in a decade. "It's huge - it shows that Penn baseball is making a turn for the better," said captain Doug Brown, who pitched the final four innings to get the win.

All that Penn sophomore J.J. Lian could say about Saturday's game was "that third quarter really killed us." It didn't matter that for a little over 49 minutes on the field, No. 8 Maryland was forced to play an unexpected game of catch-up against the Quakers.

It's been over 45 years since the last time an Ivy League college won the prized Distance Medley event at the Penn Relays. This weekend at the Relays, Penn will be relying on a strong finish from one of its top athletes to try to steal a win.

The men's golf team had won the Ivy League championship once in its 32 year program history. But make that twice now. The Quakers took home their second Ivy trophy Sunday afternoon, beating second place Brown by ten shots at Galloway National Golf Club in New Jersey.

Their final game isn't for two weeks, but for the Quakers, tomorrow's matchup might as well be the last one. No. 8 Maryland visits Franklin Field tomorrow in a game that may be the Penn men's lacrosse team's last hope for a playoff bid. While the regular-season finale is on May 5 against Denver, a win against the ACC powerhouse could put Penn (6-5, 3-3 Ivy) squarely on the bubble.

For Penn women's tennis coach Mike Dowd, things are simply going according to plan. His Quakers head into their final weekend of Ancient Eight play with an undefeated record in the league and a firm hold on first place - an impressive performance by any standard.

This season, it seems as though the men's heavy-weight crew team can't help but settle for a second place finish. The squad took second yet again this weekend in the Blackwell Cup against Yale and Columbia after the same finish against Columbia and Princeton the previous weekend.

"The Ivy League golf championship is not for the weak at heart," said Penn men's coach Rob Powelson. For Penn and its Ivy League foes, postseason play depends solely on who wins the Ivy League championship tournament, which will be held tomorrow and Sunday in Galloway, N.

When the Tigers roll into Meiklejohn Stadium this weekend, they'll be the underdogs at two games back in the division.

All that Penn sophomore J.J. Lian could say about Saturday's game was "that third quarter really killed us." It didn't matter that for a little over 49 minutes on the field, No. 8 Maryland was forced to play an unexpected game of catch-up against the Quakers.

Junior Christina Khosravi is doing it for the seniors. The whole Penn softball team is. This weekend, the Quakers (21-15, 12-4 Ivy) travel to Princeton, N.J. to play the Tigers (18-25, 8-4) in two doubleheader matches that could clinch the Ivy League South Division title for the Quakers and give them a berth to the League Championships.

The ice water felt good. Both coaches and Senior co-captain Ashley Lostritto got the celebratory bath on Saturday as Penn beat Columbia 7-0 to cap a perfect Ivy League season. As the music glared and his players danced, a wet Coach Michael Dowd described the mood.

The Ivy League crown is Penn's to lose. Just one year removed from sharing the Ivy tennis title with Brown, No. 69 Penn heads into the homestretch in complete control of its destiny: two wins over Cornell and Columbia, and the Quakers win the title outright for the first time in 36 years.

A year ago, this team may not have won these two games. But this season's baseball team is different. Andy Console came on for a tiring Jim Birmingham and struck out Adrian Turnham to snuff out a Princeton comeback, and Penn moved ever closer to its first Lou Gehrig Division title since 1997, sweeping the Tigers 11-1 and 6-4 Saturday afternoon.

It took him eight years to complete, but New York Times sports columnist William Rhoden's new book is starting to make some noise. With a title like Forty Million Dollar Slaves, the buzz would have been impossible to avoid. But at yesterday's "Race and Sports" lecture, sponsored by Penn's Center for Africana Studies, Rhoden proved his book is more than a catchy title.

With 25 days to go until graduation, it's time for you to do that one thing that you've always wanted to do, yet have never gotten the chance. For some of you, maybe it's having sex under the button, or it's a five-course meal at Le Bec-Fin. For me, it's writing a column in poetry.