The third-ranked Quakers triumphed over top-ranked Trinity on Sunday to win their first Potter Cup in school history.
Image: Penn Athletics
Head Coach Gilly Lane has taken the men’s squash team to unparalleled heights since the 2007 alumnus took over the program in 2016: No. 1 rankings, undefeated regular seasons, undisputed Ivy titles, and two appearances in the Potter Cup final. The only thing missing was the ever-elusive national championship.
After Sunday’s dominating performance at Philadelphia’s Arlen Specter Squash Center, Lane and the 2023-24 Quakers can etch their greatness in stone. No. 3-ranked Penn defeated No. 1-ranked Trinity 7-1 in the CSA National Collegiate Team Championships to win their first national title in school history.
The contest was a rematch of a Feb. 4 matchup in Hartford, Connecticut. Trinity won 5-4, handing the Red & Blue one of their two losses on the season. Penn on Saturday afternoon also avenged a Feb. 10 loss to Princeton, downing the No. 2-ranked Tigers 5-4 to earn a spot in the Potter Cup final.
Against Trinity, the Quakers jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Third-year Nathan Kueh, playing in the No. 4 spot, put the Red & Blue up 1-0 by defeating Abdelrahman Nassar 12-10, 11-3, 11-8. Fourth-year Nick Spizzirri, playing in the No. 1 spot, fell to Mohamed Sharaf 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, which evened the contest at 1-1.
Fourth-year Dana Santry, first-year Salman Khalil—the Ivy League Rookie of the Year—and third-year Abdelrahman Dweek each were victorious in the next three matches, which put second-year Omar Hafez in a position to clinch the title with a win over Joachim Chuah. Hafez, a unanimous All-Ivy selection, won 12-10, 12-10, 4-11, 13-11.
This year’s Potter Cup marked Penn’s 10th consecutive appearance. They fell to Trinity 5-4 in the semifinals of last year’s Potter Cup. The Quakers are one of only six schools to win a Potter Cup, joining Harvard, Princeton, Trinity, the U.S. Naval Academy, and Yale.
Griffin Pitt, right, works with two other student researchers to test the conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and temperature of water below a sand dam in Kenya.
Griffin Pitt’s upbringing made her passionate about water access and pollution, and Penn has given her the opportunity to explore these issues back home in North Carolina and abroad.
Helping robots work together to explore the Moon and Mars
Penn Engineers, NASA, and five other universities tested robotic systems designed to help unmanned explorers cooperate in the dunes of White Sands, New Mexico, paving the way for Moon and Mars exploration.
From framework to actions: Provost John L. Jackson Jr. talks Penn Forward
In a Q&A, Provost John L. Jackson Jr. explains the relationship between the strategic framework In Principle and Practice and Penn Forward—a new University-wide process and action plan that will advance Penn forward for the next decade and beyond.
