While the rest of Penn is reeling from the drop to No. 5 on the US News & World report rankings (don't ask how Columbia snuck into the 4 spot), Penn Football has made its way into the FCS top 25 preseason rankings, grabbing the No. 23 in the media poll.
This can't come as much of a surprise after the undefeated Ivy season in which Penn finished with the nation's top overall defense, however, the Quakers did drop 3 spots from the No. 20 ranking with which they finished the season. Penn is the only Ivy in the top 25, while Crosstown rival Villanova is No. 1.
The minor surprise here is the fact that Penn was the top Ivy in the FCS poll, while Harvard was picked as the preseason favorite in the Ivy League Media poll announced a week ago. It's worth mentioning that Penn was a narrow second, just 4 ballot points behind.
Other news and notes from the past week:
- AD Steve Bilsky announced that Jack Wyant would be named head coach of the Squash program, AKA men's and women's coach. Wyant has been the women's coach for six years. You may remember than men's coach Craig Thrope Clark stepped down after last season, wanting to spend more time with his family. Wyant has put the Quakers in the top three in the League for the last four years, winning once in 2007-08, and coached arguably the best player in the league (and one of the nation's best) in Kristen Lange.
One potential concern here is how Wyant will handle the obvious added responsibility — especially the doubling of recruiting. Squash, of all sports, is and has been increasingly international, and the recruiting trail extends much further than other sports, so that may be tricky. Thorpe-Clarke said in the above article that he hoped his replacement would have international recruiting experience.
In that same article, Men's team senior Porter Drake said he hoped for, "maybe someone younger who’s a little more keen and has more energy for the program to kind of reenergize it."
Wyant is in his mid 30s.
- Women's golf sophomore Isabel Han competed in the US Women's Amateur in North Carolina last week. Though she lost (1-up) in the first round of match play to top seeded Rachel Rohanna of Ohio State, Han was the first Penn player to ever reach the match play round of the tournament.
- Mike Fisher of the Men's rowing team won thrice at the 128th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta last week, taking gold in the Under 23 Men's Fours, Senior Men's Eight Dash and the Senior Men's Eight. "It took me a while to realize what just happend was pretty special," Fisher told Penn Athletics. "It didnt click in until I was watching the last few races, but it was pretty exciting."
- And finally, the new Weiss Pavilion fitness center was featured in the Inquirer this week (check the slideshow for pictures of Penn Athletes pumping iron.)