Districts on tap for motivated W. X-C

The Penn women's cross country team will return to Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., tomorrow for the NCAA District II Championships, where it hopes to pick up right where it left off.

The last time the Quakers ran Lehigh's course, at the Paul Short Invitational on Oct. 6, they placed eighth out of 39 teams. Penn hopes to use that course experience to their advantage on Saturday.

"We've been there before, so we know just what to expect," Penn senior captain Sam Desposito said.

The Quakers will also face a challenge on Saturday that most teams will not -- an extra kilometer.

Penn usually races at the Ivy League standard distance, five kilometers. But at District IIs, the course will be the NCAA distance of six kilometers.

The extra distance, according to Desposito, will not cause the Quakers to alter their strategy going into the race.

"When you're in a race, an extra thousand meters doesn't really matter," she said. "You might want to stop when you reach five kilometers, but you have enough left to keep up your pace until the end."

The Quakers are seeded ninth going into the race, out of a potential 27 teams. Penn coach Cricket Batz-Shaklee hopes the team can break into the top eight, competing with close rivals Pitt, West Virginia and Bucknell.

"I would like the girls to go after West Virginia," Batz-Shaklee said. "I think [we are] ready to run well."

The battle for the team victory will be between Georgetown, Villanova and Penn State, with the top two teams earning a spot to run at Nationals.

Although it is unlikely that Penn will qualify as a team for Nationals, there is a chance for sophomore standout Abbi Gleeson to qualify individually. Gleeson is one of six girls vying for the three qualifying spots, according to Batz-Shaklee.

"Abbi has a good shot to qualify for nationals," Batz-Shaklee said. "She'll have to run with the two Princeton girls who bested her at Heps [on Oct. 26]."

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