June 1, 2012

Penn’s couching carousel: One Martin leaves, another Martin stays

Mike Martin
… going

Robin Martin
… staying

On a day when Penn lost talented basketball coach Mike Martin to Brown, the school softened the blow by hiring Robin Martin to be the permanent men’s track and field coach.

Robin Martin, a star runner for the Quakers in the late 1990s, had been running the track team on an interim basis since longtime coach Charlie Powell retired suddenly last December but always seemed like the smart choice to remain in charge.

In the interviews I’ve had with him, Martin has been enthusiastic, friendly, professional and extremely ambitious, talking often about how he’s bringing in an extra-dynamic recruiting class to Penn this fall and how he believes the Quakers can – and should – become one of the nation’s premier track programs, just as they were throughout the early part of the 20th century.

Here is the statement Martin made upon hearing the news of his promotion:

“It is such an honor and a privilege to be the James P. Tuppeny Head Coach of Men’s Track & Field. The history, the unrivaled education, and the possibilities for national-level excellence make Penn an amazing opportunity for a coach. To be able to share a vision for success with a passionate administration is the icing on the cake. I would like to thank Steve Bilsky for his confidence, and his trust.  My staff and I are driven to bring this program back to national prominence. We are going to do some great things here.”

And then there’s the other Martin, who’s returning to Brown – where he starred as a basketball player from 2000-2004 – after serving as an assistant coach at Penn for the past six years.

Mike Martin always seemed like a perfect hire for Brown, not only because he played there during one of the team’s best stretches but because he proved his chops in the same league as a quality recruiter and tactician. And the fact that he managed to stay at Penn, even after the firing of Glenn Miller – who brought him from Brown to Penn – speaks to his character and determination. No one ever thought of him as “the Brown guy.” He was simply a very good coach who drew up brilliant plays like this one. (Click on the link and watch the video. Trust me.)

Here is a (very warm) statement on Martin’s departure from men’s basketball coach Jerome Allen, who now has two holes to plug on his coaching staff:

“I am extremely happy for Mike and his family; his hiring is a well-deserved. Mike has done the University of Pennsylvania a great service for the last six years, and it is only right that he get the opportunity to run his own program. As I have learned the last three years, it is a special opportunity to oversee a program that you once played in, and I know that Mike will embrace that opportunity at Brown. With the exception of two times each season, I wish Mike nothing but the best of success.”

You can read more comments on Martin here.

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Filed under Men's Basketball, Track and Field

May 7, 2012

Perfection, (brief) disappointment at Penn Park over the weekend

I arrived at Penn Park on Saturday afternoon, hoping to catch the last couple of innings of the Penn softball team’s one-game playoff for the Ivy League South Division title vs. Cornell.

As I walked down the ramp from the north side of the park, I heard over the loudspeaker that it was the seventh inning. Quickening my pace, I saw from a distance one quick out … then another … then another.

And then I heard three words sacred to anyone who follows baseball or softball.

… A perfect game …

Yes, in one of the biggest games in program history, Penn freshman phenom Alexis Borden did not allow a Cornell runner to reach base, retiring all 21 batter in a 4-0 win that propelled the Quakers into next weekend’s Ivy League Championship series against host Harvard (where they will be going for just their second Ivy title ever and first since 1981).

Below are two videos, courtesy of Penn Athletics, of the final out and Borden talking about her accomplishment.

About 24 hours later and right next door, I was there for the entire Ivy League women’s lacrosse championship pitting the host Quakers against Dartmouth at Dunning-Cohen Champions Field, one of the turf fields at Penn Park.

At first, it looked as if Penn might add to the perfection of the weekend as they held Dartmouth scoreless for all but the entire first half (a serious accomplishment in a sport that’s very high-scoring).

But the Quakers lost the momentum and couldn’t get it back as the visiting Big Green scored six unanswered goals en route to a 6-4 win.

Despite the upsetting loss, though, Penn was rewarded for its sixth consecutive regular-season Ivy title, strong strength of schedule and rout of Harvard in the Ivy semifinals at Penn Park when it earned an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament later that day.

The trip will be Penn’s sixth straight to national tournament and it begins next weekend at Loyola (Md.).

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend at the new Penn Park – which, in addition to its charm and beauty, can now call itself the home of champions.

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Filed under Softball, Women's Lacrosse

May 4, 2012

Penn’s action-packed sports weekend

As far as sports weekends go, it’s hard to imagine too many being bigger than this one for Penn athletics. Want to head out to campus to take in some of the action? Here’s a look of what’s on tap:

Women’s Lacrosse – Ivy League Tournament

Friday and Sunday, Dunning-Cohen Champions Field at Penn Park

For the third straight year, the Quakers will host the Ivy League Women’s Lacrosse Tournament, earning that right by finishing atop the league standings to capture their sixth straight Ivy championship. Incidentally, Penn has hosted this tourney (which determines the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament) all three years of its existence.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the tourney is that the games will be the first played by a varsity team at the synthetic turf field at Penn Park, which is primarily used as a practice facility. The reason for this is the team’s normal home at Franklin Field will be occupied by track and field (see more below).

As the top seed, the Quakers open with fourth-seeded Harvard on Friday at 8 p.m. Should they advance, they’ll play the Dartmouth-Cornell winner Sunday to become the second Penn team this spring to win the Ivy title. (The men’s golf team won in thrilling fashion last weekend.)

Track and Field – Outdoor Heptagonal Championships

Saturday and Sunday, Franklin Field

Just one week after Penn Relays, Franklin Field will be filled with elite athletes again as the seven other Ivy League teams join the host Quakers for Heps.

Last year the Quaker men finished in seventh place at the outdoor championships meet but Maalik Reynolds claimed the high jump title with the second-best jump in Heps history. Now a sophomore, Reynolds will look to defend his title, as will Penn’s 4×800 relay team, which took first at last year’s meet.

On the women’s side, junior Morgan Wheeler and junior Jillian Hart are among the favorites to win Heps titles in the javelin and pole vault, respectively, while the Quakers’ 4×100 relay team of Gabrielle Piper, Paige Madison, Leah Brown and Emily Townsend should also have a good showing.

Softball – One-Game Playoff for South Division Title

Saturday, 12:30 p.m., Penn Park

For the first time in conference history, there will be a one-game playoff to determine who plays in the Ivy League Championship Series. Penn and Cornell will do the honors after finishing tied atop the South Division with 15-5 records. Both teams set up the showdown after concluding the regular season with four-game weekend sweeps. The winner of the matchup will face North Division champ Harvard the following weekend.

Cornell has won the last three South Division championships, while Penn is going for just their second division title in program history. But the upstart Quakers (32-15) have already taken three out of four from Cornell this season and boast perhaps the best pitcher in the league in Alexis Borden.

Borden, a freshman, leads the league in earned run average (1.39) and wins (23). The Penn offense, meanwhile is led by reigning Ivy League Player of the Week Brooke Coloma (who is second in the league with 34 RBIs) and freshman Sydney Turchin (who leads the league with 36 runs scored).

Penn Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Saturday, The Inn at Penn

Away from the fields where Penn’s current athletes are competing for championships, some past champions will be honored in this invite-only, black-tie event.

The eighth induction class features Diana Caramanico W’01, LPS’11 (women’s basketball), Debra Cencits Donnally NU’81, GNU’83 (field hockey/women’s lacrosse), Tim Chambers C’85 (football), Willis N. Cummings D’19 (track/cross country), Melissa Ingalls C’90 (women’s volleyball), Bruce Lefkowitz C’87 (men’s basketball), Robert Levy C’52 (special award), Timothy Ortman C’01 (sprint football/wrestling), Joseph Sturgis, Sr. C’56 L’59 (men’s basketball), Paul Toomey C’77 (men’s soccer), John Tori C’54 (men’s fencing) and Bob Weinhauer (men’s basketball coach of the famed 1979 Final Four team).

It’s a pretty impressive class to be sure, and we’ll have more on these Penn greats following the induction ceremony.

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Filed under Hall of Fame, Softball, Track and Field, Women's Lacrosse

April 25, 2012

For Penn fans, a Penn Relays primer

Robin Martin, right, will be head coach for his first Penn Relays after taking over the men's track and field program from the reins of Charlie Powell, left, last December.

It’s that time of year again as runners from across the country (and Jamaica – a lot from Jamaica!) come to Franklin Field for the largest, oldest and perhaps most exciting track and field competition in the country.

Yes, the 118th running of the historic Penn Relays is here.

Earlier this week, I got the chance to discuss the meet with Penn interim men’s track and field coach Robin Martin C’00, a former Penn Relays champion who I featured in a recent Gazette issue.

With his help, I’ve pinpointed a couple of Penn storylines to watch for students and alums going to Franklin Field this weekend. (To see Penn’s entire schedule, click here).

College Men’s High Jump Championship

Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

Last year, Maalik Reynolds became the first Penn athlete to win the Penn Relays high jump title since 1955 (when Will Lee C’55 shared the title with three others in 1955). He later improved upon that winning jump of 7 feet, 3 ¼ inches to capture a Heps crown the following week, and the sophomore remains one of the nation’s best jumpers this year. Despite being the top seed and favorite, Martin expects stiff competition, especially from a pair of Indiana University jumpers in Derek Drouin and Darius King. Still, there are a lot of expectations for Reynolds to repeat. Martin said that many Penn alums decided to sit in the section in front of the high jump area just to watch Penn’s star sophomore.

College Men’s Distance Medey Championship of America

Friday, 4 p.m.

Penn's Ryan Cunningham will anchor the Men's DMR on Friday.

This is an event that is usually one of the most exciting ones at Penn Relays. It’s also won that has been dominated by Villanova, which has won the race two of the past three years and 25 times overall. But Martin believes his team consisting of senior Brian Fulton (1200-meter leg), senior Brian Rosenthal (400), freshman Mato Bekelja (800) and senior anchor Ryan Cunningham (1600-meter leg) can make a splash. Martin called Cunningham and Fulton “national-caliber” mid-distance runners, especially heaping praise upon Cunningham, who put in a lot of hard work to shave his mile time down from 4:24 to around 4:02 since coming to Penn. And since the DMR usually comes down to who runs the strongest mile, Martin is hopeful Cunningham and the Quakers will be able to stay with Villanova and the other national powers in this event.

High School Boys Discus Throw Championship

Friday, 10 a.m.

As the top seed, East Brunswick High School senior Sam Mattis will look to defend his Penn Relays title in the discus. Why should this matter to Quaker fans? Well, Mattis will be attending Penn next year, having passed up full rides from some of the nation’s premier programs to be the centerpiece of Martin’s first recruiting class as head coach. You might want to get a sneak peak at Mattis, who Martin believes has the potential to be a national champion and an Olympic thrower some day.

High School Boys Mile Run Championship

Friday, 6:05 p.m.

Staying with the high schools – which usually has some of the most exciting races at Penn Relays – another Penn recruit will be a competing for a national title: Upper Moreland’s Drew Magaha. According to Martin, Magaha is the best 800-meter runner in the country and would already be in the Penn record books for his 800 time. Now we can see how he does against the country’s best high school milers.

———–

There are other races to watch, of course. For Penn, the men have a good 4×800 relay team that has a chance to win the second Championship of America heat, and the Penn women will look to be competitive in the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×800, among other heats. And, of course, let’s not forget about local power Villanova going for gold in most of the distance relays, as well as the thrilling USA vs. the World races on Saturday that always electrify the crowd.

To see the entire Penn Relays schedule (and follow results live), click here. But if you’re in town, you should really try to make it out to Franklin Field to soak in the atmosphere and excitement of the country’s best track meet.

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Filed under Penn Relays, Track and Field

April 18, 2012

Penn’s trip to Citizens Bank Park

Penn and St. Joe's played under the lights at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday (Drew Hallowell)

Penn freshman Austin Bossart has only been to Citizens Bank Park twice in his life.

The first time he sat about as high as you can sit, in the upper deck by the left field foul pole.

The second time he alternated between the dugout and home plate.

“This opportunity was great,” a beaming Bossart said shortly after the Penn baseball team played Saint Joseph’s in the championship game of the Liberty Bell Classic, an eight-team tournament for local Division I colleges. “I wouldn’t have passed this up for anything.”

After beating Villanova and La Salle to get to the Liberty Bell finals for the first time in the tournament’s 21-year history, the Quakers lost to St. Joe’s, 6-3, in Tuesday night’s finals at the Bank. (For more game details, check out the Pennathletics.com recap, a short article I wrote for CSNPhilly.com and a few well-done Daily Pennsylvanian pieces.)

But for most of the Quakers, it seemed, the final score meant less than getting the chance to play on the same field as pro ballplayers, if only for a couple of hours.

Bossart follows through on a swing during Penn's first trip to Citizens Bank Park (Drew Hallowell)

“It’s disappointing but I think the opportunity for all of us to come here was better than actually winning the trophy,” said Bossart, the only Penn player who had a multi-hit game. “I would have loved to win the trophy. But it was just a good opportunity for all of us. You’ve gotta enjoy it for what it was.”

Interestingly enough, Bossart, a St. Louis native, said he played at two other major league ballparks – Busch Stadium and Wrigley Field – before coming to Penn. But, of course, that didn’t make the freshman catcher any less giddy when he stepped foot on the pristine grass and dreamt of watching baseballs fly into the outfield seats.

“I was joking around like I would hit a grand slam at bat,” Bossart said. “It was a lot of fun, joking around with the guys in the dugout.”

Romanticism aside, the experience gained by playing a championship game against a city rival could also help get the Quakers in gear as they prepare for four big games against Cornell this weekend at Meiklejohn Stadium. Cornell is currently in first place in the Lou Gehrig Division of the Ivy League, four games up on Penn (15-17, 6-6).

“I hope this will kick us in the butt a little bit and give us momentum going into next weekend,” Bossart said. “Hopefully we can pick it up in Ivy League play.”

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Filed under Baseball

April 13, 2012

A Penn grad tries to rebuild Major League Baseball’s worst team

Jeff Luhnow after getting hired by the Houston Astros in December

The 2012 Major League Baseball season opened last week, and with it came the perpetual belief that every team has a chance.

Well, every team except maybe the Houston Astros.

Fresh off a dismal 56-106 record last season, the Astros have been picked last in most MLB preseason power rankings and are deep in rebuilding mode.

All of which is to say that new general manager Jeff Luhnow, who graduated with a dual degree from Wharton and the School of Engineering in 1989, has his work cut out for him.

Luckily, the Penn grad and former St. Louis Cardinals executive seems up to the task, despite this being his first GM position. One article, written shortly after his hire, describes Luhnow as brainy and bilingual, part of the new breed of cerebral, stats-first baseball execs:

Some old-school baseball team initially derided Luhnow with nicknames such as “Harry Potter” and “the accountant.” Here’s a guy whose playing career peaked out in high school, whose pre-Cardinals resume featured stints as the president of a dot.com venture, Archetype Solutions, Inc., and vice-president of marketing for Petstore.com.

That said, his Penn degree will certainly serve him well in his new role, wrote another Houston sportswriter – Zachary Levine – who also went to Penn.

Educated in a dual degree program that blended business and engineering, Luhnow joins a front office that is increasingly data-oriented. To listen to him and to CEO George Postolos talk is a different experience than to listen to the old regime when it comes to what Luhnow called “the zero-sum game” of baseball.

Still, while Luhnow’s “new-age” thinking may have upset some “old-school” baseball men in the past, Luhnow was quoted in the same story as trying to steer clear of the scouts vs. stats war that has seemed to be building steam ever since the writing of “Moneyball” nine years ago. Here’s his quote:

“There’s a misperception about what the winning formula is. You can’t be the elite scouting and player development organization without the best scouts and coaches in the industry. Those are baseball people who have been in this their entire life and use their good judgment and experience to make decisions.

“The complementary part is adding a whole new area, which is really utilizing whatever technology and whatever capabilities are available, whether it’s understanding medical assessments, understanding performance histories, different ways to evaluate character. There’s a lot of science that can be added to the equation.

“But it’s really all about gathering up as much valuable information as you can, organizing in a way that makes sense and making the best possible decisions.”

Luhnow would certainly be wise to use all of the tools at his disposal to rebuild the Astros, which opened the 2012 season with 10 players on a major league roster for the first time. That number shows just how inexperienced the ’Stros are and how deep Luhnow’s rebuilding efforts must go. But for the general manager, that part is also, well, kind of cool:

“One of the most fun things I’ve gotten to do in my nine years as a baseball executive is tell five position players and five pitchers that they were making their first opening-day roster in their career. That was really a fun experience after a lot of the other conversations that you have to have during the spring: letting a guy go or telling a guy that he’s going to be reassigned or optioned out. It was really fun to get a chance to do that.”

Of course, there will also be some hard parts, mixed in with the fun. But for now, the Penn grad is saying all the right things as he tries to build the worst team in baseball into the best.

“I want to see Minute Maid Park filled to the rafters in an American League championship series. I want to see this city get excited about the possibility of going to a World Series. And I would love to see Houston to win the World Series, and the team in Texas that gets talked about be the Houston Astros. I’m all in.”

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March 22, 2012

Penn’s ‘postseason’ experience

Miles Cartwright drives around Butler's Ronald Nored in a second-round CBI game (Penn Athletics)

Technically, the Penn basketball team played in its first postseason since 2007, won its first postseason game since 1994 and hosted its first postseason game since 1978.

But the Quakers seemed to recognize that their invitation to the College Basketball Invitational – a newish postseason tournament for teams that don’t make the NCAA tournament or the NIT – didn’t carry nearly the same weight as the program’s 23 trips to Big Dance.

Following Penn’s loss to Butler in the second round of the CBI on Monday (which came a few days after the Quakers’ first-round win over Quinnipiac), senior Rob Belcore offered some candid thoughts on what marked his final game at the Palestra.

“I always imagined my last game here was walking off after spanking Yale. The Ivy League meant so much to me this year and to lose that hurt a lot. These games for me were about having fun, going out and getting the chance to compete again. I’m not going to dwell on this loss too much. I’ll still say losing to Princeton was the final game of my college career. These were almost like exhibition games. They were fun. I came out, competed, got to play with my best friend and roommate for four years [Zack Rosen]. But I’m not going to say 30 years from now, ‘Dang, I lost my last game at the Palestra to Butler.”

Belcore makes a fair point, and in some ways the CBI games, at least the one vs. Quinnpiac, had an exhibition-like feel to it. That, perhaps, is only natural after the letdown of missing out on the Ivy League championship by one game. But for athletic director Steve Bilsky W’71, it was important to give the basketball team the opportunity to continue its season, even if it meant paying to guarantee home games (as is the custom in the CBI). Here are Bilsky’s thoughts:

“We did it for one reason really and that’s for the players. I talked to [head coach] Jerome [Allen] right after the Princeton game and asked him to think about whether he wants to continue to play. It’s not a wrong answer to say no. This team has been in a playoff mentality for almost the entire second half of this season, so the wear and tear emotionally and physically is real. A lot of teams choose not to continue playing and I don’t think that’s a reflection of disrespect. They just feel like anything more would be counterproductive. In Jerome’s case, he didn’t think very long. He wanted to continue playing for two reasons. One, because he feels his seniors earned that right. And two, the more you play the better you get.”

Perhaps the best part for the Quakers was that they were able to put a few underclassmen who played sparingly throughout the season (guys like freshman Simeon Esprit and sophomore Marin Kukoc) on the floor against good competition. That kind of game experience is one of the greatest benefits of these kinds of postseason tournaments. Here’s what Allen had to say about that:

“Ultimately our goal isn’t to play in the CBI but we had the opportunity in this tournament and it was kind of like a celebration to the type of season we did have. For returning players, they have to connect to the process in terms of what it’s going to take to ultimately be champions. I think that’s why you play the game and why you play in the postseason and to have this taste of the postseason I think will do these guys well. There’s never an offseason. I think this will do them well in terms of preparing for next season.”

Ahh yes – next season. Who’s ready for it?

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Filed under Men's Basketball