Women's cross-country heads to Heptagonals

As the cross county season draws to a close, the Penn women's team looks forward to its biggest meet yet.

The Heptagonal Championships take place at Van Cortland Park in New York tomorrow. Ivy League schools -- Penn, Brown, Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia, and last year's champion, Yale--compete in the prestigious annual event.

"Heps is the most important meet of the cross country season," junior Lainie Lord said. "It's what we've been training for all season."

The Quakers' main goal is to move up from last year's eighth-place finish. They have already shown improvement in some of the meets this season, including placing second at the Fordham Invitational and sixth at the Paul Short Invitational.

However, depth has been somewhat of a problem for the team, which has at times competed with only five athletes.

"The small numbers make it a little more difficult because we don't have the depth that other teams do," Lord said. "Everyone has to run well. With only 7 runners when you're allowed to run 9, every person counts."

Even so, the Quakers anticipate a better result this year.

"As a team, we've been near the bottom of the Ivy Leagues for the past few years," Lord said. "Last year we moved up... and we expect to move up this year too. No huge jumps--but little by little we're making our way up."

A focus for the team this year has been running as a pack and improving overall performance by having individual runners stay closer together.

"For Heps, we don't have any huge strategy--we're going to keep doing what we've been doing all season," said Lord.

New coaches Gwen Harris and Steve Walsh have been integral in the team's development.

"Our new coaches are awesome. They expect a lot from us, so that's going to help us out in the long run," Lord said. "Our numbers are small, but we have the quality. Hopefully it will all come together on Friday."

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