Lawlor-Gilbert hopes to weather storm of adversity

The past few seasons have been turbulent ones for the Penn swimming program. In the last two years, both the men's and women's swimming teams have submitted petitions to the athletic department demanding the resignation of coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert. In the wake of the most recent incident, members of both teams quit in protest. But Lawlor-Gilbert claims the whole situation has been blown out of proportion. "There are two guys who probably would be on my team this year [but have left], and neither one was over disputes with me," she said. "Both came in and said they've had enough of swimming -- not because of the program, but because they wanted to go and do other things." But even if the entire situation was a misunderstanding, it continues to be an uncomfortable predicament for everyone involved. Both Lawlor-Gilbert and her swimmers have been placed under a microscope all season. When senior Jim McGinnis sat out the first two meets, speculation began that he had had a dispute with Lawlor-Gilbert. In fact, he had just chosen to concentrate on his studies. Considering the circumstances they have to deal with, the men's team has performed rather well. Assuming Penn loses to Ivy power Harvard this weekend, the Quakers will fall only one win short of last year's 5-6 record despite the loss of several top swimmers to graduation. Lawlor-Gilbert's strength is recruiting. In the past two years, she has attracted two of the strongest classes in recent school history to West Philadelphia. Last year, Lawlor-Gilbert brought in Jeff Brown and Ken Fletcher. Brown has blossomed into one of the Ivy League's top freestylers, not to mention one of the best swimmers ever to wear the red and blue. Fletcher gives Penn a first-place threat in the short-distance freestyle events. Along with Brown, the Quakers have one of the top 1-2 combinations in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League. After finding two of the top freestylers in the conference, Lawlor-Gilbert balanced out the Penn lineup this season with freshmen Andrew Valins, Rob Hassett, Hunter Powell and Colin Robinson. Valins and Hassett have both excelled in the breaststroke and the individual medley. Powell has given the Quakers depth in the freestyle events and the relays and Robinson has contributed in the IM and the butterfly. If Lawlor-Gilbert can complement the Classes of 1997 and 1998 with one or two more strong classes, the men's program could be resurrected. The women's team is in a "rebuilding stage", according to Lawlor-Gilbert. But that's just a nice way of saying they are uncompetitive in the Ivy League. The Quakers finished the season with an 0-7 conference record. Even worse, they could only escape with a tie against Division III Johns Hopkins. Unlike the men's squad, there is little hope of improvement in the near future. Lawlor-Gilbert has found it difficult to attract top female swimmers to her program. Although Penn does have a strong sophomore class, the freshman class is fairly thin. Lawlor-Gilbert's top priority is to improve the women's diving program. After competing without a diver for much of last year, Lawlor-Gilbert only brought in one freshman diver -- Naomi Stoller -- for this season. When competing against stronger programs, Penn almost always finds itself in a hole after the diving events. The men's situation is not nearly as serious for now. But after junior Josh Schwartz graduates next spring, the men may find themselves in a similar situation. Despite the moderate success of the men's team, many of the swimmers are still upset with the program. In fact, with a new athletic director in Steve Bilsky, some of the men are hoping the situation will be re-evaluated at season's-end. So will Lawlor-Gilbert be coaching at Penn next year? "If they went by her record and her coaching ability, I'd say no," said one swimmer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "But if they couldn't get her out last year, I don't think they'll ever get her out. I think she'll be here until I graduate."