Sophomores lead way to Easterns

Over the past two seasons, the Penn women's swimming team has at times closely resembled a bus stop. With numerous swimmers entering and leaving the program, the needed sense of stability has been virtually non-existent. But throughout all the turmoil, there has been a group that has been able to show its resiliency and set aside these out-of-the-pool problems. The Quakers' sophomore swimmers have been the foundation of this rocky situation. Since coming here, this group has held together and has not succumbed to the problems and distractions that have marred the Penn program. Emily Montes, Gillian Morris, Erin Ridge and Natalie Wolfinger comprise the sophomore class. Along with the rest of the Quakers, they will be competing at Easterns today through Saturday at Harvard to complete an unsettling season. Entering the 1994-95 campaign, many of the swimmers were feeling the heat not from each other, but from other students at Penn. The student body was becoming quite critical of the swimming program and was not hesitating to express its displeasure with the swimmers. With a scenario quickly resembling the one from the year before, the Quakers knew they would have to pull together to overcome any criticism. Since Christmas break, the atmosphere around the team has been calm. The outside criticisms have stopped and internal problems have been non-existent. This is due in large part to the sophomore swimmers' being able to take on the role of team leaders. This class will have no choice but to provide leadership the next two years because junior Allison Zegar will be the sole senior next season. One characteristic the coaching staff hopes the sophomores will pass on to the incoming classes is their tremendous work ethic. "Work ethic is extremely important," assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "All four [sophomores] have a strong work ethic, and train very hard. They also have a strong sense of what training will do for them, but you can see they have already passed that along. The freshmen came in here the first week and have worked well ever since." What should not be passed on to the incoming swimmers is the Quakers' record. Since the sophomore class has been at Penn, it has gone winless in all 14 of its Ivy League dual meets. In fact, the closest meet came in November of last year, when the Quakers lost by 59 points to Yale. But the team is still optimistic. The atmosphere at Easterns will be a loose one for Penn. There is no pressure on the team, and it will be swimming just to gain experience from competing in what will be the fastest meet of the season. "Experience is a level of comfort," Schnur said. "Swimming is something you need to be exposed to a lot of times. It's a feeling of nervousness, you get it at all levels. Easterns is a lot of fun. They're ready to swim fast, but more importantly, they'll be exposed to a competitive atmosphere." When Penn hits the water today, it will be getting the most valuable experience it could ever get from one meet. Easterns will be the race where each Ivy school will put its best swimmers in each event -- showing the Quakers what they don't have, but what they can look forward to having in the future.