M. Swimming splits

Yale came to town thinking Cornell was going to be the team to beat. The Big Red thought only the Elis would be a threat. But at last weekend's tri-meet at Scheerr Pool, the Penn men's swimming team surprised everybody, defeating Yale 132-111 and narrowly losing to Cornell, 128-115. The Elis, who finished third at last season's Easterns, hadn't lost to Penn since 1991 and looked ready to claim their fifth straight victory after the diving portion of the meet. Yale's divers built up a 29-9 cushion for their swimmers to work with. On paper the Elis had strength across the board, but in the pool Penn dominated. The Quakers won all five freestyle events, as well as the 200 fly and both relays. Yale evened things up a little by sweeping the top three spots in the 200 individual medley and taking first and third in the 200 breast. But overall, the shell-shocked Elis just couldn't seem to keep up. "I think Yale got flattened by getting beat by us," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Our guys were finishing exceedingly well. They stepped up when they needed to. Our captain, Jeff Brown showed a willingness to do whatever he had to do to win, and that set an example for the rest of the team." Brown won three events Saturday, posting the fastest times in the both the 500 and 100 freestyle as well as the 200 fly. He also swam in the 400 Medley Relay. "I thought Yale would be stronger, but they looked beat," Brown said. "They arguably have the best talent for a championship meet, so they may be sacrificing dual meets so they can have a good championship season. "They swam courageously, if not very fast. It takes a lot of courage to come into an opponent's pool tired like that. This will help them later. They're going to be a tough team to beat at Easterns." While the Elis were dragging along, the Big Red roared through every race. Their swimmers looked rested and powerful, getting out fast and staying fast. Senior diver Josh Schultz won both the one- and three-meter diving events, giving the Quakers a slight advantage going into the swimming portion of the meet. Cornell quickly made up the deficit by taking the 400 medley relay and dominating the non-freestyle events. The Big Red placed first, second and third in the 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke, and first, second and fourth in the 200 backstroke. Although the Quakers trio of Brown, freshman Ryan Kafer and sophomore Ken Fletcher combined to win every freestyle event except the 50 free, Cornell took second and third almost every single time. "Cornell looked rested, and it's possible that they are concentrating on their dual meet season, rather than focusing on the championships," Brown said. "It's great for them to start off the season 2-0, but they may pay for it later. Strategically, as a tri-meet, we swam as well as we could have and people stepped up." Tri-meets are especially tricky for coaches, who must create one lineup that will work against both teams. A lineup that would have been good enough to beat Cornell alone might have failed once Yale was thrown into the mix. Swimmers that could have beaten Cornell in certain races were needed elsewhere to take on the Elis. "It's distracting, because you need to put people where they are strong and where they will do the best, but you don't know who the other coaches are going to use because they have another team to worry about too," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Also, perhaps if Yale had not been here, Cornell would not have prepared as well and we might have won." "It was a good first meet for us, especially since it was the first collegiate meet for almost half our team," Brown said. "First meets can be tough." The freshmen seemed to have no problem adjusting to collegiate swimming. Brian Cohen and Kevin Reilly both had strong races, while Kafer won the 100 freestyle against both teams and anchored the winning 400 freestyle relay. "It's definitely more intense than high school," Kafer said. "I was excited. I wanted to see what I could do, what the team could do. I really didn't know what to expect, but I felt there was a sense of competition." · The Quakers hit the road today to take on perennial powerhouse Princeton at 4:30 p.m. The Tigers came in first place out of 11 teams at Easterns last February.