Dept remains problems

If there was any one moment last season when the Penn women's swimming team began its downward spiral towards the dungeon of the Ivy League standings, the Brown meet was it. Brown is infamously remembered as the meet when the Quakers first were unable to field a diving team. They have been unable to win a meet since. Simply too large of a deficit is created once any Penn opponent completes its diving session. This lack of depth was once again the key factor Saturday in the Bears' 153-100 slaughter of the Quakers Saturday in Providence. Dating back to last season, Penn (0-6, 0-6 EISL) has now dropped eight of its last 10 dual meets. A program that was once a factor in every meet has now been forced to look for alternatives to team victories. "It's hard going into every meet without hope from any team standpoint," Penn sophomore Natalie Wolfinger said. "At least the [men swimmers] know they have the possibility of winning meets, but we have to look to motivate ourselves individually. We try to get our personal bests and do well as a team and overcome any feelings of frustration." No matter how much emphasis is placed upon the individual events, it is hard to ignore the shellacking the Quakers took. Throughout the entire 15-event meet, only sophomore Erin Ridge could place first. And with that victory coupled by a measly five second-place finishes, it was made clear that Penn had no business being in the same pool as Brown (2-5, 2-3). This scenario of lower finishes carried over to the diving session, where Penn's sole diver, freshman Naomi Stoller, could muster only a fourth-place finish in the one-meter dive and a second place in the three-meter event. Stoller was in a hole before the meet even began. Not only was she competing against three more experienced Brown divers, but she was again forced to shoulder the burden of representing the entire Quaker diving team. This lack of numbers in both swimming and diving is what continues to spell doom for Penn. "It would be nice to have some other female divers on the team," Stoller said. "Its intimidating, especially when you go up against five other divers. I don't feel much pressure individually. So far there haven't been any meets that have been close enough where I feel I've had to place first." There were only two events where Penn even had the same number of competitors as Brown. And in the 200-yard butterfly, sophomore Gillian Morris was the only Quakers competitor. "It gets frustrating," freshman Thu Doan added. "Going into the meet we knew Brown outnumbered us, so in that sense we knew we couldn't be competitive." Since that infamous meet last January 22 when the Quakers fell 139-79, it seems as if Penn has only made a single improvement. At least this season they have one diver.