M. Swim loses at the wire in NY

Three-tenths of a second. That was the difference between victory and defeat at the Penn-Columbia men's swimming meet. With a 10-point lead going into the last event, the 400-meter freestyle relay, Penn needed only a second-place finish to clinch its first victory of the season. The Lions took first place in the event, leaving two Quakers and one Columbia swimmer still racing. Whichever team hit the wall next would win the meet. The race was dead-even through the last 50 meters. The swimmers appeared to finish simultaneously. Both teams looked up to the scoreboard. Penn's top team finished only .30 seconds behind the Columbia's second-place team -- .30 seconds away from the Quakers' first win. With the 1-2 finish, Columbia (2-3, 1-3 Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League) gained its first EISL victory by a score of 120-117. "It was the most crushing defeat I've ever experienced in my career," sophomore Jeff Brown said. "And I've been swimming since I was five." While the sting of the defeat will linger with the Quakers (0-4, 0-4 EISL) until they end their winless drought, there are a number of positives the team can take from the contest. The most promising performance was turned in by junior diver Josh Schultz. After inconsistent efforts in the team's first three meets, Schultz put on a spectacular show, winning both the 1- and 3-meter events. Penn's other diver, freshman C.J. Sipowicz, also showed improvement over his previous competitions. "We were really counting on them to come through -- score big," Brown said. "And they did." Penn's two star freshmen, Rob Hassett and Andrew Valins, both had spectacular meets. Hassett finished first in the 200 breaststroke for the second time in three collegiate meets. Valins won for the first time in his career, topping the field in the 200 individual medley. Sophomore Brian Stern had his strongest meet of the season as well. After struggling against Cornell, Yale and Princeton, Stern won the 200 backstroke. But Penn's top performer was, to nobody's surprise, Brown. Having already won in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle events and the 200 butterfly earlier this season, Brown added two more victories to his collection. He won the 200 butterfly in 1 minute, 51.98 seconds. He struck gold again in the 1,000 butterfly in 9:41.78. "The first thing I say to anyone who asks about the meet is: 'We swam great,' " Brown said. Despite the strong individual efforts, the Quakers could not seal the win. Columbia's relay teams proved too strong to overcome. For Penn, those final three-tenths of a second will be haunting as the Quakers head into another rigorous segment of their schedule. Moments from victory on Saturday, their first victory may now be months away. · The women's team did not fare as well as the men's, losing to Columbia in a 175-112 rout.