When I was looking at colleges, a big factor in my 17-year-old head was sports. I saw one school's chancellor talk about how excited he is that his school no longer focuses on athletics. On a tour at another, I scoffed when the guide explained how while the school's teams are horrible, some students still cheer for them.
As a freshman living in Hill, I remember waking up at about 8 a.m. one Friday morning in April to a sound that I cannot really describe. It was noise, and a lot of it. I looked out my window onto Walnut Street, and it was like I was in another country (probably Jamaica), with food carts, souvenir stands, people dressed up in all sorts of outfits and track uniforms and a general atmosphere that was a bit alien to Penn.
The ice water felt good. Coaches Mike Dowd and Sara Schiffman and senior co-captain Ashley Lostritto got the celebratory bath on Saturday as the women's tennis team beat Columbia 7-0 to cap a perfect Ivy League season. As the music blared and his players celebrated, a wet coach Dowd described the mood: "It's a tremendous feeling," he said.
Coach John Cole is proud of how far he has brought his young Penn team. "[The media] didn't give us a chance, . counted us out early," Cole said. "And we won our first [division] title in 12 years." But with the Ivy League crown and a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line, the Quakers' magic ran out against Brown.
Playing under a new league format, the Penn softball team had a chance to take the first-ever Ivy League championship series. But Harvard's Shelly Madick wouldn't have it, as she limited the Penn bats to one hit in over nine innings. The Quakers fell 4-0 in game one, and the Crimson completed the sweep with a 4-2 victory in the second contest to earn the Ivy League title.
Here is an anecdote I am not proud to tell. As a freshman I vigorously debated with my roommate, Ben Kowitt, the value of admitting athletes to Penn, and I was the one who stubbornly believed that athletes did not have special or worthwhile role at Penn. However, something changed that year.
Here is an anecdote I am not proud to tell. As a freshman I vigorously debated with my roommate, Ben Kowitt, the value of admitting athletes to Penn, and I was the one who stubbornly believed that athletes did not have special or worthwhile role at Penn. However, something changed that year.
As a freshman living in Hill, I remember waking up at about 8 a.m. one Friday morning in April to a sound that I cannot really describe. It was noise, and a lot of it. I looked out my window onto Walnut Street, and it was like I was in another country (probably Jamaica), with food carts, souvenir stands, people dressed up in all sorts of outfits and track uniforms and a general atmosphere that was a bit alien to Penn.
The ice water felt good. Coaches Mike Dowd and Sara Schiffman and senior co-captain Ashley Lostritto got the celebratory bath on Saturday as the women's tennis team beat Columbia 7-0 to cap a perfect Ivy League season. As the music blared and his players celebrated, a wet coach Dowd described the mood: "It's a tremendous feeling," he said.
Having clinched the Ivy title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament last Wednesday against Princeton, the women lacrosse team's 12-4 win over Brown on Sunday may have seemed like icing on the cake. But the No. 3 Quakers (13-1, 7-0 Ivy) knew they still had a lot to play for.
Not again. For the second straight year, the Penn men's tennis team went into its final weekend needing two victories to secure an outright Ivy League title. And for the second straight year, the Quakers came up short. After defeating Cornell 6-1 at home Friday to put the team one win away from grabbing its first outright title in 36 years, Penn lost at Columbia 4-2, meaning the Quakers will have to share the crown for the second straight year, this time with the Lions.
A lot is made of the NFL Draft - TV coverage started the day after the Super Bowl, and Mel Kiper has had his four-round mock drafts up for some time. But for hundreds of players like undrafted free agent and former Yale quarterback Jeff Mroz, the year after the draft determines their future.
The stereotypical Ivy League athlete is smart, calculated and plays with his head - a student on the football field, but is also weak, slow and undersized. If that's true, former Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie should have played in the Big Ten. "He's one of those rare players you get in the Ivy League that can dominate" in the NFL, Brown coach Phil Estes said.
Princeton athletic director Gary Walters addressed an easy question at Monday's press conference, but didn't tackle a much harder one. The simple question - who will be the Tigers' next men's basketball coach? - had already been answered last Thursday, when Princeton put out an early announcement.
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Chance Pipitone had just shot a 73 to open his weekend at the Ivy League championships, and he was already in a two-stroke hole for day two. The Penn freshman was assessed a two-stroke penalty - it was appealed but not overturned - for showing up late to his tee time.
Sam Burley called the Franklin Field track home for four years, but he might find it a tad strange when he hits the red track during the Penn Relays this weekend. Instead of donning Red and Blue in the college events earlier in the weekend, the 2003 graduate and former Penn Track star will be running in the Distance Medley Relay this Saturday.
It's all out of their hands now. After finishing over .500 at 23-17 for the first time in 23 years, the Quakers have done their work this season. And now the Penn softball team will have to wait for the results of the Cornell and Princeton clashes over the weekend to find out if it will get another game this season.
The experience of college athletes at the Penn Relays may best be summed up by Arkansas runner Adam Perkins: "Just give me the baton." As usual, an all-star cast of collegiate teams will descend upon Franklin Field this weekend. With 240 colleges and universities, from Abilene Christian to York, bringing teams and individuals to participate in the relays, there are thousands of storylines to follow.
Running is the individual. It is how fast you can go, how hard you can push your body, how badly you want that time, and how much you want to beat yourself. It is about you and your personal performance. Or so the thinking goes. The women of the Quakers' 4x800-meter relay, however, beg to differ.
This season, it seems as though the men's heavyweight crew team can't help but settle for a second-place finish. The Quakers took second yet again this weekend in the Blackwell Cup against Yale and Columbia after the same result against Columbia and Princeton the previous time out.
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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.
Solutions by The State News
