Matt Meltzer

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.

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.

Penn's spring sports teams are in an unfamiliar position for this time of year. They are in contention for Ivy League titles. The women's lacrosse, tennis and softball teams, along with the men's tennis and baseball teams, all have legitimate shots at titles.

With 10 games left in the season, the baseball team has already won more games than in either of the two previous seasons. Penn (13-14, 7-5 Ivy) owes a lot of that success to a deep and talented freshman class. There are 11 freshmen on the roster and they are pivotal to the team.

Emily Denstedt will take the ball for the Quakers on Saturday against Yale as she seeks her team-leading seventh victory. After manhandling the Elis last year, she is in position for a repeat performance.

Now that Joe Scott has left Princeton for the clear skies and lower expectations of Denver, athletic director Gary Walters and the Tigers are left with a monumental decision: Should Princeton maintain the coaching lineage of Pete Carril or should they focus solely on winning? This is not to say that naming a coach from the prolific Carril legacy and winning are mutually exclusive, but Princeton's upcoming decision is not necessarily the best opportunity to find that combination.

Here's a revelation: It gets cold in Philadelphia over the winter. No, not Hanover, N.H. cold or Ithaca, N.Y. cold, but it can be pretty nippy out there. So when the weather heads south of the freezing point, athletic practices move indoors. This is where Penn's athletes get the short end, since the school lacks appropriate indoor facilities.

Athletic director Bob Scalise and the Harvard athletic department fired long-time basketball coach Frank Sullivan at the beginning of the month. Now that he is gone, the Crimson have an exceptional opportunity to move their basketball program forward. Harvard needs to look at its program as one that needs to be revamped, not one that is on the precipice of greatness.

One hundred sixteen games, 79 wins and three Ivy League titles - that's a pretty impressive accomplishment for the senior class of Stephen Danley, Adam Franklin, Ibrahim Jaaber and Mark Zoller. But how do they stack up with the greats from Penn - and the rest of the League - who have graced Ivy gymnasiums over the past four years?

Penn's December 2003 basketball game against St. John's may be remembered for a thrilling double overtime and former player Friedrich Ebede being punched in the face. However, it should be marked as the beginning of the Class of 2007 era, when Mark Zoller started his first career game.