W. Swimming places sixth at Philly Open

Although the results might not indicate it, the Penn women's swimming team swam better than expected at the Philadelphia Open this past weekend. The Quakers placed sixth out of eight area teams. Most teams divide their season in two halves and plan to race hard at the end of each. Penn's opponents at the meet used Saturday as an opportunity to do just that -- they marked this competition as the midpoint of their schedule and went in wanting to measure their progress up to this point in the season. The Quakers' opponents trained lightly and rested the days before the meet. Penn, on the other hand, trained right up until the meet, planning not to rest until it races Columbia Dec. 9. "Some of the teams ahead of us were fully rested and shaved," Penn assistant Mike Schnur said. "We just wanted to go in there and have fun, and to get set up for a good meet this Saturday." Despite all the training, Penn still performed well. In every event the Quakers placed well enough to score, something even the Penn men's swimming team, which placed second out of eight teams Saturday, did not do. "There was a deep team effort," Schnur said. The meet took place Friday and Saturday. Penn sent only four swimmers to the meet on Friday: captain Alison Zegar, Jen Triolo, Lorie Wald and Leah Doscentos. The other seven teams had an average of 20 swimmers racing. Still, all four of the Quakers scored. "We were only eight points behind the fifth-place team," Schnur said. "If we had the whole team there Friday night we would have come in fourth overall." Saturday, the entire Penn squad raced. The 800-yard relay team, comprised of Zegar and freshmen Gretchen Price, Bridget Adam and Triolo, performed admirably. "The relays did a nice job, especially the 800, which is the longest and most difficult relay," Schnur said. In individual performances, Triolo swam her personal best in the 200 freestyle. "Everyone swam really well for being tired," Zegar said. "It shows how well we are training. Once we rest we'll do even better. Times should be faster on Saturday. The team is definitely on track." The Quakers look forward to a week of light training in preparation for the Columbia meet Saturday. Penn's main goal for the first half of the season is to beat the Lions.