Johns Hopkins invades Sheerr Pool

Nothing is quite the same as participating in an athletic contest that goes down to the wire. Win or lose, the sheer exhilaration of fighting to the finish results in memories that last a lifetime. If this holds true, the Penn women's swimming team has had an uneventful season. The absence of close meets has been the pattern for the Quakers this season. But this may all change today when Penn hosts Johns Hopkins at 6 p.m at Sheerr Pool in the first half of a weekend doubleheader. The Blue Jays (5-4), one of the premier teams in Division III, are led by a core of veterans that placed Hopkins seventh in the country last season. Since they match up evenly with Penn, today's meet certainly looks to be closer than any meet the Quakers (1-7, 0-6 EISL) have swam this year. The closest meet Penn has been in this year came against Brown, when the Bears won by 53 points. Hopkins has a number of great swimmers. Junior Ann Girvin is arguably the best swimmer in Blue Jays history. Last season she set school records in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle events, and the 200-yard individual medley as well. But she is more than an outstanding individual who lacks a supporting cast. Along with teammates Shayne Pierce, Tanya Kowalczk and Whitney Jordan, Girvin shares Hopkins school records in both the 200 and 400 medley relays. And to show how complete a swimmer she is, Girvin has qualified for the NCAAs in the butterfly. Pierce, despite being a freshman, placed in the top 16 in three events in the Division III championships last season. Like Girvin, her name heads the list of Hopkins' most prolific competitors. This year she has already set team marks in the 100 and 200 backstroke. The Quakers will try to neutralize Pierce with sophomores Emily Montes and Natalie Wolfinger. "I think I've noticed that as a team, we're really psyched," Wolfinger said. "It will be nice to race against a team where the points matter and every place counts. We will definitely be swimming the hardest we have all year." When these two teams locked up last year, Penn prevailed by a score of 140-93, but today's meet promises to be much closer. Penn will have an edge once the initial horn sounds, because the meet will follow the format of a normal men's race. This means the 50- and 100-yard events will all double in distance. Penn feels the increased lengths will give it a definite advantage. "It's a meet we have the ability to win," Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "They have three or four girls going to the Division III Championships, but we're using the 200's, not the 100's. The longer the race, the better we'll be. We have the advantage of hard work, desire and lots of natural distance swimmers." When the Quakers are through with the Blue Jays, their attention will immediately shift to Sunday, when they host Harvard (6,1, 4-0) at noon. The Crimson is one of the premier teams in the EISL, but they will be coming right off a meet against Princeton Saturday that will decide the Ivy League title. Harvard is led by senior Deborah Kory, who has won her last seven races. Once this weekend is over, the Quakers are off for the next three weeks until Easterns. The break will allow Penn to swim its hardest today in an attempt to ensure today's meet is not too close.