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Swimming vs. Delaware Credit: Ilana Wurman , Ilana Wurman, Ilana Wurman

The Quakers kept the Blue Hens in their coop this Saturday, as Penn swimming emerged from Sheerr Pool victorious against Delaware.

In their final home meet of the season, both the men’s and women’s squads retained momentum during the limbo period between the Ivy regular season and Ivy Championships. With both Penn teams set to contend for a top-three finish in the Ivy League at season’s end, the Red and Blue rested few swimmers and won convincingly against their challengers from the Colonial Athletic Association conference.

Penn’s men’s team (4-5) blew away Delaware, winning 12 events en route to a 184-98 victory. Cole and Jordan Hurwitz helped Penn sweep the 100-yard breaststroke as the twins finished first and second, respectively.

The 400-yard freestyle relay ended up being a battle of the classes, as coach Mike Schnur organized the teams by academic year. On Senior Day, the class of 2015 swimmers were bested by the sophomores and juniors, respectively.

“We knew the meet was over at that point, and we wanted to make sure it stayed fun,” Schnur said. “The guys talk a lot of smack to each other about which class is the fastest.”

Junior Eric Schultz delivered the meet’s marquee moment, finishing only 0.17 seconds away from breaking a 35-year-old pool record in the 100-yard freestyle event. Schultz’s standout performance, one of his two event wins from the weekend, was done without the aid of a fast suit. Schnur has said throughout the entire season that the team will save the advanced swimwear for its championship races.

While the women’s squad (5-4) was not as dominant as its male counterpart, it still recorded its second nonconference win, 174-126. The Quakers won nine events and started off the meet with an eight-event win streak.

Starting off with the 200-yard medley, the Quakers took first in the event, one in which the Red and Blue set the Sheerr Pool record back in November. The quartet of senior Lauryn Brown, sophomore Haley Wickham, senior Taylor Sneed and sophomore Rochelle Dong finished in 1:45.7, more than a second faster than the Delaware ‘A’ team.

Sneed went out with a bang, winning all four events in which she raced. Her last event win of her Sheerr Pool career came from the 200-yard butterfly, a race in which she holds the pool record

“Taylor’s had a great four-year career,” Schnur said. ”[She’s] definitely one of the top-five swimmers in school history.”

The divers were again unable to record an event victory, with the Blue Hens taking both the three- and one-meter dives. sophomore Sivan Mills placed third in the 1m, and freshman Maggie Heller placed second in the 3m.

As the season approaches its end, the Quakers prepare to head to two additional road meets. Staying in-state for each, Penn will travel to West Chester on Friday before taking on La Salle the following day.

However, if the message this season has been that the Ivy regular season meets are unimportant, these nonconference meets will matter even less. What will be most important for the teams is the balance between staying in shape while also remaining rested entering the all-important Ivy Championships in February.

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