Swim teams face Navy and Hopkins this weekend

Men prepoare for war against two challenging teams Sounding a battle cry, the Penn men's swimming team is ready to attack the Navy Midshipmen in their home waters and win its first away meet of the season. The Quakers (4-3, 3-3 EISL) will battle league-rival Navy in Annapolis, Md., tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., and will take on Johns Hopkins at home Sunday (12:00 p.m., Sheerr Pool). The Navy meet should be an evenly-matched contest. Last year the Midshipmen finished fourth in the league -- one place ahead of Penn, which lacked the depth and success of this year's team. "I expect that it will be a tight, well-fought battle," assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "It's going to be very much like the Brown meet. It will depend on which team wants it more. The guys are going to have to put in a tremendous effort." The diving competition is expected to produce the most casualties for the Quakers who must overcome a Navy diving battalion led by Nathan Smith, the 1992 National Champion and 1996 Olympic prospect. Smith is backed by a deep squad that won't be dropping any cannonballs in the 1- and 3-meter diving events, which Navy is likely to dominate. The Quakers are refusing to back down, however insurmountable the obstacles seem. "I expect them to dive their best," diving coach Phil Bergere said. "They'll be diving against some of the best in the country." Facing Brown's strong diving squad last Saturday, sophomore Josh Schultz was able to pull out a second place finish in 3-meter diving. "We're going in more as spectators. [Smith] is a lot of fun to watch," Schultz said. "We're not expecting to win, but we should learn a lot." Despite the stiff challenges they may face in the diving events, the Quakers still hope to come back strong in other events. "We faced the same difficulties with Brown in the diving events," sophomore Rion Broshears said. "But we swam well and overcame them." Penn is counting on its freestyle swimmers like senior captain Rob Morris, junior Bryan Thornton, and freshmen Jeff Brown and Ken Fletcher to lead the Quaker assault. "We have to beat Navy in every freestyle event to win," Schnur said. "The freestylers are going to have to step up and take first in their events." The Quakers are confident coming off last Saturday's Brown meet and hope to continue their three-meet win streak. "We have to continue what we did at Brown with consistent performances," Morris said. "We'd like to continue our winning streak." After a hard week of practice and a three-hour bus ride, the Quakers may not be well rested for the meet. "Navy definitely has the home-pool advantage," Schnur said. "But we are looking forward to the challenge. We are going to have to get up and duke it out. Even though we are tired, we'll have to compete the best we can with the same tenacity." This meet will be different from others this season due to the length of the Navy pool, which is measured in meters instead of feet. Short events will be slightly longer and long events will be shorter. However, Penn does not seem overly concerned about the adaptation. "I think it will be an advantage for our team," Broshears said. "We're generally stronger in mid-distance events because we've been training really hard." Sunday's home meet with Johns Hopkins will be set up with alternating men's and women's events, which will be a confidence builder, according to coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert. The keys to winning this meet will be to win the short-distance events -- the Blue Jays' strong point. Penn will be fortifying its short-distance squads with its top medley relay swimmers who do not usually participate in these contests. Confident in their successes and thirsty for victory, the Quakers will need to win these battles to prove they have a shot at winning the war.