Look at the calendar of any member of the Penn's women's track team and you may find this Saturday's date marked with a big red 'x'. That's because this weekend, the Quakers will participate in perhaps the most anticipated event of the year when they compete against arch rival Princeton and Penn State in a meet in Princeton, N.J. The team, coming off an encouraging performance in last weekend's Penn State National Open, feels as if it is just starting to hit its collective stride. "It's one of those things where you need to transition into a real competitive mode," junior Caroline Rebello said. "I really think we did that last week." The Red and Blue will need to maintain that "competitive mode" this weekend, because this event is annually one of the most hotly contested meets of their season. "Penn-Princeton is always a really good meet," Rebello said. "The team does look forward to it." Forgive Rebello if she neglects any mention of Penn State's presence. "Penn State has a lot of good depth, and they kind of got thrown into this event last year," she said. "But we go out there to strictly beat Princeton and send them home." Rebello's sentiments are widely echoed. "Princeton is our largest rival," junior Tonia Sabino said. "We always want to one-up them." This isn't just your average rivalry, however. "It's always been ingrained in my head that I should hate Princeton," Rebello said. Asked if she felt the same way as Rebello about their arch nemesis, Sabino quickly concurred -- and with even more emphasis. "We do go out there looking for blood," she said. "So hopefully, we will come back covered in some." All hostilities aside, the Quakers look at the fact that they will be directly competing against Princeton this Saturday as a source of motivation. "Head-to-head tends to be more exciting," Rebello said. "At this event, the girl on your left and the girl on your right are both from Princeton -- it really gets your adrenaline going." Rebello also said that this meet is the team's main opportunity to be recognized campus-wide. "You have people cheering for you because you beat Princeton even if they don't know that we have a women's track team at Penn," she said. The meet is also one of the final tune-ups before Heptagonals for the team, so the team knows the importance of the event, aside from the "grudge match" factor. "We're getting into the home stretch of the season," Rebello said. "People need to start peaking soon." Rebello, however is confident that the Quakers will be able to rise to the occasion. "Since I've been here, we've beat Princeton," the junior said. "This year, I don't foresee anything being different."
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