Swim teams lose another

Junior Geoff Munger had the desire to spend hours racing in the pool, until the drive left him over the summer. Now he's leaving the men's swimming team. "This program just kind of killed it," he said. "It wouldn't have mattered who was coaching. The fun was out of it." Munger is the latest in a number of men and women swimmers who have quit the team over conflicts with coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert. The next wave of defectors will be known Friday, when the swimmers formally assemble for the first time this season. "I really don't know who's going to show up," said senior Jim McGinnis, who will return despite signing a petition last semester which called the program "primitive in theory." In the last two years, both the men's and women's teams have submitted petitions to the athletic department requesting Lawlor-Gilbert's resignation. In October 1993, six women swimmers quit, and last season the women forfeited the diving events. For Munger the problem began last season. "Things started going wrong where I just started seeing that she didn't offer any coaching," he said. His departure will be particularly painful for the men's squad. "I would define Munger as a swimmer," McGinnis said. "In the past he was one of the most 'rah-rah' guys. That really saddens me." Instead Munger will play water polo because his affection for the water, unlike the affection for his coach, has not dissipated. "I'm pretty terrible at it. I've got the swimming part of it down, but these guys who play it are pretty good," Munger said. "I identify myself as a swimmer," he added. "I introduce myself to people, 'Hi, I'm Geoff Munger. I'm a swimmer.' And just to be completely out of the water was such a huge change." Other swimmers are considering quitting the Penn team and joining club squads in Philadelphia. · When athletic director Steve Bilsky took office July 1, he inherited the problem which has had tremendous tensions for more than three years. He said he will stand by Lawlor-Gilbert for now and attempt to resolve the differences. "Kathy Gilbert is the coach and we're expecting a good season," Bilsky said. "We're trying to work with the swimmers and the coach to identify areas where we can all make the situation better. And I expect that everybody will give it their best effort. "As far as the situation that I inherited, there's nothing that I could have done about swimming back in March or April. All I can concentrate on is from July on, when I started working." Many feel that it is too late to salvage the messy situation, and that Lawlor-Gilbert is not qualified to be a Division I coach. Some swimmers have not contacted Lawlor-Gilbert since returning from summer vacation. "The apathy of the swim team has hit rock bottom," sophomore Ken Fletcher said. "There is no team unity. Some guys haven't even been around the pool yet." Geoff Munger decided not to stay away from the pool, only the swim team.

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