M. Swimming fares well at Philly Open

It wasn't the most glamorous of meets, but Penn's Jeff Brown still made it memorable. Brown won three events and broke two records this weekend at the annual Philadelphia Open. The Quakers captain also anchored the 400-yard freestyle relay to victory as the Penn men's swimming team placed second out of eight teams with 311 points. Host La Salle took first place with 568.50 points. "The team swam exceedingly well, especially since we haven't rested yet," said Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert. The Quakers' performance was impressive since La Salle, Drexel and Rider had shaved and tapered for the meet. The other participating teams were Fordham, Rider, Drexel, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova. "La Salle was strong, but they shaved and tapered," added sophomore Mark Spenner. "It would have been a lot closer if both teams had been shaved and tapered." Teams often break their season into two halves and for most of the schools, the invitational marked the end of the first half of their season. Many of the teams prepared for the meet so they could see how fast the times were and what changes need to be made as they prepare for the second half of their season. The meet took place over two days. The Quakers sent 10 swimmers to compete on Friday night, while the whole team swam on Saturday. "We had a pretty respectable swim, considering 10 guys had to swim on both days," Brown said. "Some of the guys had to swim a lot of relays as well as their individual events." Brown was the only Quaker to win an event. The junior took first place the 200-yard fly and the 200 and 500 freestyles. In the 500 free, Brown's time of 4 minutes, 37.89 seconds was good enough to beat La Salle senior Mike Foley's meet record by almost five seconds. Foley finished second in the race. He also set a meet record of 1:52.47 seconds in the 200 fly. Freshman Ryan Kafer, senior Geoff Munger, and junior Ken Fletcher also came up big for the Quakers. Fletcher took second place in the 100 fly with a time of 51.99 seconds. Kafer took third in the 100 free with a time of 48.1 seconds, while Fletcher and Munger placed fourth and seventh. Kafer and Munger also placed fourth and sixth in the 50 free. The trio teamed up with Brown to take first place in the 400 freestyle relay. It was a good day in general for the Penn relay teams. The 800 freestyle relay's effort of 6:59.71 broke Villanova's meet record in that event, while the 200 free relay placed second. Freshman Kevin Reilly took fourth place in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16:53.21, while sophomore Eric Rowan placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke. Rowan was the only Quaker to place in the top six of a non-freestyle, non-butterfly event. The Quakers didn't place at all in the 200 individual medley or either of the diving events. "The 200 individual medley has been a weak event for us this year," Brown said. "We faced it against Cornell and Yale, and it reared its ugly head again in this meet. It's our strategic weakness." The invitational gave the Quakers a chance to swim against more than two teams at one meet, something they'll have to do at the Easterns championships. Penn will return to Ivy League competition Saturday against Columbia.