Quakers too much for Garnet

If team records predicted outcomes, Swarthmore would have annihilated Penn Tuesday. But the win-loss numbers hardly ever tell a complete story. The Garnet boasted 11 wins and only one loss before they dove into the water against the Quakers. Penn, at 1-8, had a record nearly as unbalanced in opposite direction. Because of the nearly opposite records, coupled with the strongest Swarthmore squad in recent years, the Garnet thought it would have another win to mark down on its record. But Swarthmore was wrong, as the Quakers prevailed with relative ease, 160-101. What Swarthmore failed to realize is that Penn has history on its side. The Quakers had been beating up on the Garnet for decades, even with less than championship teams. So why does Penn still race this Division III team every season? According to the Quakers coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert, there are two reasons. "Women from Swarthmore have been swimming women from Penn since the mid-'20s, Lawlor-Gilbert said. "They provided some good competition in the late '70s, early '80s. But then our teams separated by quite a bit. "So then the Swarthmore coach and I used to look at the meet format and design a meet format that would be favorable to make her NCAA cuts because she always had one or two good swimmers." But this year, Swarthmore (11-2) was going for a clear-cut win. The Garnet were vocal about its intentions. "They had this huge write-up about Swarthmore being 11-1 and Penn being 1-8," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "I think it spurred the women to compete even better." The Quakers (2-8) did not let Swarthmore's new-found confidence affect them. The entire Penn team contributed to the victory. "We had outstanding performances throughout the team," Lawlor-Gilbert said. The meet started out close. Through the first six events, Penn and Swarthmore flip-flopped with individual top-place finishers. But from the 50-yard freestyle on, the Quakers took charge. Penn placed first in six of the last seven events. "Indications of the second part of the meet told us that the Swarthmore women thought that this was the year that they were going to upset Penn," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "They were red-hot, gung-ho at the first event, and as the meet proceeded you could almost see them get more and more deflated. They competed well until the end, but I think we really stole the momentum." Lawlor-Gilbert was especially pleased that her swimmers did not sleepwalk past the Division III Garnet lightly. "Its easy to fall into the trap of thinking 'We're Division-I, we're Ivy League, we'll be better just by showing up on deck.' I've seen a lot of teams fall into that trap." "[There is a] respect for opponents on this women's team," she added. "They don't walk in saying 'They're Swarthmore, they must be bad.' They took their opponent seriously and then proceeded to pound them." Call it history, call it destiny, but the Quakers are just calling it another number in the win column.