M. Swimming crushed by league-leading Crimson

Ten hours on a bus left the Penn men's swimming team tired and cranky when they finally stumbled in their into their hotel rooms at midnight Saturday, after having traveled through one of the worst blizzards of this winter. And that was the least painful part of the weekend. Twelve hours later, Harvard butchered the Quakers, 216-64. "The team as a whole did not swim very well," senior Geoff Munger said. "People swam tough and hung on well, but sitting on a bus for 10 hours definitely had an effect on us. And Harvard's just got incredible swimmers." With freestyle stars Brian Younger and Eric Matuszak, the Crimson (12-1, 9-0 EISL) have spent the season terrorizing the rest of the league, and Penn (6-5, 4-5) knew better than to dream of dethroning the division leaders. The Quakers had a different agenda. Since this was to be the last meet of the year for the Quakers who will not be competing at Easterns next week, those swimmers hoped to end their seasons with strong performances in their best events. The coaches agreed to have a split medley relay, where each of the four legs is raced as a separate heat, so people could get flat times. At least seven Quakers had shaved for the meet. "The bus ride was draining physically -- you don't think you'll feel it but you do," junior Bobby Brown said. "It was kind of a disappointment for the guys who were shaved." The Quakers who did qualify for Easterns next week had just begun their taper, so many used the meet as an opportunity to practice racing their key events. Other swimmers were entered in off-events, such as freshman Ryan Kafer. Kafer, who usually swims freestyle, raced the 200-yard backstroke at Harvard. "It was a chance for us to get one last good swim in before Easterns," Brown said. "Even though Harvard didn't put their best swimmers in every event, they had quality guys in everything." The Crimson did put their top guys in one event -- the 200 freestyle -- hoping that the combination of Matuszak and Younger would hand Penn junior Jeff Brown his first defeat of the season. Brown didn't swim the 200 freestyle Saturday, but he did manage to make mincemeat of Younger in the 200 butterfly. "It wasn't a great time for Jeff, but he won handily," Bobby Brown said. "But the 200 fly isn't really Younger's best event. The 200 free with Jeff, Younger, and Matuszak will be great at Easterns." The Quakers entered their top four freestylers -- Kafer, Munger, Brown, and freshman Brian Cohen in the 200 freestyle relay. The relay got off to shaky start as Penn's leadoff man Kafer misjudged a turn, and Harvard coasted to a body length lead that they never relinquished. "Ryan practically hit his face on the wall. He looked up and the wall was right there," Munger said. "I think we can give Harvard a race in a short-event relay, especially the 400 freestyle relay. They have incredible 50 freestylers, while our guys are better in the 100 free." Easterns will be held at Harvard this year, so the Quakers relished the opportunity to race at the pool two weeks before the league championships. The team had a chance to adjust to the lighting and types of walls -- factors that influence turns. It's better to make a mistake now than in two weeks in the biggest meet of the season.