W. Squash racks up honors

The Penn women's squash team may have been unable to defend its national championship this season, but that didn't stop four Quakers from bringing home some hardware of their own. Senior Helen Bamber and sophomore Runa Reta were named Women's Intercollegiate Squash Association first team All-Americans yesterday, and Penn co-captains Lauren Patrizio and Rina Borromeo were named to the second team. These honors come on the heels of several outstanding performances by the Red and Blue at the WISA Individual Championships three weeks ago in Boston, MA. "It's a really nice honor," said Patrizio, who finished in 11th place at the WISA tournament, six slots higher than last year. "It was exciting to do better than I did last year. That was kind of my goal, to improve upon that." Reta, who made the first team for the second straight year, was similarly pleased with the announcement, though she had a good feeling it was coming. "It wasn't completely unexpected, just because I was seeded in the top 10 going in, so it was sort of expected at the end of the year," she said. "But still, it's a good title to have." Patrizio was happy for her fellow Quakers who had also been tapped by WISA, though she wished that Penn freshman Daphna Wegner could have shared in the honor. Wegner, the Quakers' No. 2 seed, missed the WISA tournament partially due to having three of her teeth broken in the Quakers' unsuccessful title defense at the Howe Cup competition in February. According to Patrizio, she would most likely have also been named first-team All-American had she competed in Boston. "[Being named to the All-American team] does depend on how you do in the year, but mostly [it depends] on how you do in the individual tournament, [it's] how you get ranked," she said. "The rulebook says if you don't compete in this tournament, you can't make All-American status." While the four Quakers are pleased with being honored, both Reta and Patrizio maintain that this type of individual honor is separate from team honor, and that the positive feelings gained from being named to the All-American team are not necessarily linked to the more negative feelings associated with not being able to retain the national title. "It's a different kind of feeling, because making first team All-American is more of an individual goal, whereas winning the national title is more of a team goal," Reta said. "I think they're sort of two separate things." Thus Reta and her comrades say they would gladly trade being named All-American for the national championship. "[I'd do it] in a second," Reta said.

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