For Penn men’s swimming, this weekend’s opening tri-meet could prove to be a good opportunity to see what the season has in store. Although the Red and Blue lost to Cornell and Princeton in a three-school competition, Penn had multiple event wins and plenty of students placing.
Junior captain Chris Swanson swam the 1000m freestyle in 9:14.10, picking up an event win in the process.
In addition, junior captain Eric Schultz picked up points for the Quakers, placing second in the 50m and 100m freestyles with respective times of 20.31 and 45.22 seconds. As one of the team’s best swimmers, his performance was able to take Penn out of a gaping hole against strong Princeton and Cornell squads.
Underclassmen scored multiple points for Penn in the meet, with sophomore Michael Wen stealing second in the 100 fly — with a time of 49.49 — and then participating on the 400 freestyle relay team that also scored silver. That team — comprised of sophomore Kevin Su, Wen, Schultz and senior Dillon McHugh — clocked in at 3:00.85, finishing behind Princeton by seven seconds.
In the end, Penn placed third overall, losing to Princeton 192-107. The Quakers finished closer to Cornell, losing 118-180. Even though it appears to be a lopsided loss, the success of so many underclassmen bodes well for Penn, not just in 2014-2015, but in future seasons as well.
With so many positives from the day, Penn looks to build on its performance when it travels to Ohio for the Total Performance Invitational on Dec. 4.
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