Quaker Meeting House (QMH) was caught off guard late last week when one of the Assistant QMH staffers popped his head into the office and asked if QMH might know the last time, if ever, the University of Pennsylvania men's squash team was ranked No. 1 in the nation.
 
QMH was stunned. Penn? Number 1?
 
That is in no way meant to denigrate the program, because the Quakers have collected their share of hardware through the years. Three Ivy titles since the league started awarding a yearly champion. Four men who have won what is now known as the College Squash Association (CSA) individual championship. A trio of wins at the now-defunct National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association (NISRA) Six-Man Championships, which from 1956-88 incorporated a team element into the individual championships.
 
That said, squash has been a sport long dominated at the collegiate level by the Ivy League programs. Within that Ancient Eight hierarchy, there has traditionally been the H-Y-P triumvirate—especially H (Harvard) and P (Princeton)—and then everyone else. Need proof? Here's a breakdown of the Ivy League programs at three of the "major" events through the years...
 
IVY TITLES: Harvard 22, Princeton 12, Yale 7, everyone else 8 (Penn 3, Brown 3, Columbia 1, Dartmouth 1 co)
CSA INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS: Harvard 37, Princeton 20, Yale 6, everyone else 4 (including Penn's three)
SIX-MAN TITLES: Harvard 17, Princeton 7, Yale 3, everyone else 3 (all by Penn)
 
Because there are so few teams that play it, squash does not have any divisions at the collegiate level. Take a look at the Penn schedule. One weekend they are hosting George Washington and the University of Virginia. The next weekend they are playing…St. Lawrence? The University of Rochester?
 
Don't be fooled; there is room in this sport for the little guys. Over the last two decades, tiny Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.—a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) member for every other sport—has established itself as arguably the premier collegiate program in the nation. Consider this: after Harvard (30), Yale (12) and Princeton (10) won all but two of the CSA's team championships from 1942 to 1998—the Naval Academy breaking through in 1957 and 1967—Trinity has won 17 of the last 20 titles with the Crimson, Bulldogs and Tigers besting them once each during that period.
 
So yeah, it's an accomplishment to break through what we will call the H-Y-P-T wall. That is exactly what has happened here at Penn—and maybe sooner than anyone thought.
 
Third-year head coach Gilly Lane is one of the truly good people in the athletics department, and QMH thinks it's no surprise he's having this kind of success so quickly. You would be hard-pressed to find a coach with a deeper affection for this University.
 
After all, it wasn't that long ago that Gilly himself was a student here. Born and raised in the region, he played squash for the Quakers from 2004-07, captaining the team as a junior and senior. Lane was a four-time CSA All-America, earning second-team honors as a freshman and sophomore and then first-team honors as a junior and senior. He is the most recent of six Penn players all-time to earn All-Ivy honors all four years, dating back to the start of All-Ivy teams in the early 1970s.
 
QMH would tell you that the best indicator of who Gilly is remains the fact that he is the only Penn player to be recipient of the CSA's Skillman Award, which since 1983 has been presented annually to the men's squash player who has demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship during his entire college career.
 
These days, in addition to his coaching at Penn, Gilly has created a niche for himself on the pro squash circuit as emcee at the U.S. Open, hosted the last several years by Drexel. If you attend the U.S. Open each fall at Drexel, you will see him dressed to the nines—Gilly loves the bowtie look—and working the microphone like a pro. Prior to feature matches, he is introducing the players as they take the court. Following the match, he will do an on-court interview with the winner, much like you see done at tennis matches these days. QMH has seen him in action a few times, and he's impressive.
 
Of course, it helps that Gilly knows most of these players pretty well. Following graduation, he played on the pro circuit himself. However, he also found his way back to University City in the summer of 2013, spent three years working as an assistant coach for Jack Wyant—then the Director of Squash—and was handed the reins to the men's program following the 2015-16 season.
 
Lane has put together a young squad that has shown promise quickly. The Quakers' No. 1 player, Andrew Douglas, is a sophomore. A freshman, Aly Abou Eleinen, has gone 4-0 at both the No. 2 and 3 spots. Two other freshmen, James Flynn and Michael Mehl, have been a perfect 8-0 to shore up the middle of the lineup.
 
The overall results have been splendid. An 8-0 record to date, losing just eight of a possible 72 matches. Wins over Rochester (currently No. 2), Yale (No. 7), Drexel (No. 9) and St. Lawrence (No. 11). During the holidays, the team took a 10-day trip to Ireland and The Netherlands. Heady stuff for this group.
 
It's an exciting time for the Penn squash programs. The men are ranked No. 1 in the nation for what is believed to be the first time ever. (CSA rankings history…scarce!) The women are ranked fifth and still boast arguably the greatest player in program history in senior Reeham Salah. She is having another scorching season—a 48-1 record since the start of her sophomore year with a staggering mark of 144 games won and just nine lost during that time—and will undoubtedly be the favorite to win her second national title in early March.
 
Best of all, the Ringe Squash Center is getting a complete renovation. QMH has seen the renderings and walks by the structure almost daily; it is going to be impressive facility when it opens ahead of next season. For this season, the teams are practicing and playing their "home" matches at Drexel's Kline & Specter Center, just a short three-block walk down 33rd Street from Ringe.
 
QMH happened upon Coach Lane later the same day that the No. 1 ranking became official. He congratulated him, and as they talked QMH was impressed by Gilly's demeanor. He was honored, downright humbled, that his program had been given such lofty respect, and he made sure to let his guys know that they had earned this ranking and that they should savor the feeling. At the same time, though, this was no time to rest on their laurels: suddenly the Quakers have gone from hunter to hunted. It will be interesting to see how this team responds to the challenge, considering none of them—no freshmen, no sophomores, no juniors and no seniors—have ever been in this position.
 
One of QMH's all-time favorite movie lines is uttered by Burt Lancaster in Field of Dreams: "We just don't recognize the most significant moments in of our lives when they're happening." Except here was Coach Lane, recognizing just such a moment for the program and savoring it before getting back to the task at hand. It was really cool to see.
 
There is still a long way to go, of course. The Quakers men will play a staggering seven matches over a 15-day span, starting this Saturday when they host Trinity—remember what QMH said about them earlier?—and Colby College. Next Wednesday, the Red and Blue make the short trip up to Princeton for what has in recent years become a healthy rivalry with energetic crowds and dramatic matches. The regular season ends with home matches against Dartmouth, Harvard and Cornell, and the season finale takes place February 10 in New York City against the defending Ivy League champions at Columbia.
 
Are there tests in there? You bet. Trinity is currently ranked fourth. Princeton is eighth. Dartmouth is sixth. Harvard is third. Columbia is fifth.
 
Penn is likely to see a lot of those teams again the weekend of February 15-17, when Yale hosts the CSA Team Championships. The goal there is to be seeded in the Potter Cup division, since the winner of that eight-team competition is declared the national champion.
 
National champion. That has a nice ring to it. QMH thinks it sounds even better than we're number 1!