Before Cornell clinched its third straight Ivy League championship, it battled through a tough challenge from Penn. Following the 3-1 loss to the Big Red, the Quakers won their second match of the New York road trip on Saturday by defeating last-place Columbia, 3-0.

The Penn rowing teams ended their fall seasons by giving the rookies some experience. All three of the Quakers rowing squads were in action Sunday afternoon in the Belly of the Carnegie at Princeton, N.J., a race that is different from most because only freshmen compete.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Coming to upstate New York for the Black Coaches Association Invitational, the Quakers knew they would be seeing some zone defense. After all, they would be playing one of the three games against Syracuse, a team famous for its 2-3 zone, one that Penn forward Mark Zoller referred to as the best in the country.

The Quakers' opening tournament witnessed the resurfacing of proven stars and the emergence of fresh new faces. Quakers All-American Matt Herrington captured the 174-pound title at Michigan State Open yesterday, while Matt Valenti, last year's national champion at 133 pounds, recorded a second-place finish for the Red and Blue.

With a chance to go up by a pair of touchdowns on Saturday, the Penn offense ran into a wall. So out strode Penn's leading wide receiver, Braden Lepisto, to try a 38-yard field goal.

While Saturday's NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional marked the end of the cross country season for most of the men's and women's teams, junior Stacy Kim has one more race on her schedule. Her time of 20:56.6 was good enough for sixth place and a berth in the NCAA National Championship taking place Nov.

All eyes were on Harvard's Clifton Dawson on Saturday, but it was the Penn senior class that ultimately stole the show on Senior Day. Running back Joe Sandberg notched yet another impressive performance, scoring Penn's two touchdowns with a pair of nearly identical plays in the first quarter.

The men and women's swimming teams both crushed Rider and Lehigh in Lawrenceville, N.J., on Saturday, breaking four pool records in the process. "You are not expecting to get pool records, especially at Rider, which doesn't have a very good pool," coach Mike Schnur said.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. As Penn closed out the weekend's tournament against St. Francis, the meager smattering of fans in attendance attested to the fact that this was certainly not the day's feature game. Going on results alone, this was a matchup between the two worst teams in the tournament, the two that had lost a pair of opening games and were playing for third.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Quakers opened their season in a three-game tournament at Syracuse, N.Y. this weekend, and while a win over Big East powerhouse Syracuse might have been a bit much to ask for, the Quakers were undoubtably hoping for a bit better than 1-2.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Penn's comfortable win over St. Francis (NY) wasn't hard, but it was definitely needed. After a start marked by lukewarm performances against Syracuse and UTEP, the Quakers blew the game open early and tightened the noose on the Terriers in the second half for a 86-58 triumph.

"He's got everything." Coach Bagnoli was almost correct. If senior running back Clifton Dawson rushes for 54 yards Saturday, Dawson will then own the Ivy League rushing record and truly have everything. Dawson is a half-football field short of tying Ed Marinaro's 35-year-old record of 4,715 career rushing yards.

Somebody's going to set a record this weekend, and it ain't gonna be Penn. With the Quakers getting their third straight overtime loss last week, that weight is lifted from their shoulders. The one making the history this week will be Harvard running back Clifton Dawson.

For a Columbia team that struggled to win four Ivy League games last year, a season opener at Cameron Indoor might seem like a cruel joke. But no matter how lopsided the matchup seems, the Lions are in fact scheduled to play the No. 12 Blue Devils in the first round of Duke's College Basketball Experience tournament.

Harvard football coach Tim Murphy has seen Penn's last three games. He saw the missed kicks, the botched snaps and the porous defense. He wasn't fooled. "They're just a couple of plays away from being in the position that Yale's in," undefeated in the Ivies, Murphy said.

Last time the men's cross country team visited Lock Haven, Pa., it placed five runners in the top 10 and earned first overall. The Quakers will be looking for similar success when they return there tomorrow - only this time, the stakes will be much higher.

Coming out of Philadelphia's Simon Gratz High School last year, Malik Alvin had an important decision to make. With Temple and La Salle recruiting him, the basketball star definitely had the opportunity to play close to home. A look at some prominent alumni of the Nicetown school might have shown that it was a no-lose situation.