SWIMMING: Division III Blue Jays to visit Penn

Hopkins meet to prepareHopkins meet to prepareQuakers for championships Every year, Johns Hopkins men's swimming coach George Kennedy makes a point to call Penn and thank the Quakers coaches for scheduling a meet against his team. "Nobody wants to swim against them, " Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "They're all afraid to lose to a Division III team." The Blue Jays (7-1), who finished fifth at the Division III NCAA Championships last year and third the year before, have spent most of the season terrorizing small liberal arts colleges around the country. So far, Johns Hopkins' average margin of victory hovers around 50 points. The Blue Jays' only defeat came at the hands of Division I Maryland-Baltimore, who mauled the Blue Jays, 158-82. Tonight, the Quakers (4-3) have a chance to hand the Blue Jays their second loss of the season at 6 p.m. at Sheerr Pool. "It's going to be challenging," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "When you get into the Top 10 of Division III, you're talking about some very tough teams." Johns Hopkins' big weapon is NCAA 100-yard butterfly champion Matt Johnson, who clocks 50.4 seconds in the event. Johnson has already qualified for the NCAAs in the 50 freestyle and the 200 butterfly. The Blue Jays also have strength in strokes and distance freestyle. The 400 individual medley team has also qualified for the championships, as has Mike Brtlich in the 500 freestyle. "I think we'll match up well in the strokes," Penn sophomore Colin Robinson said. The format of the meet will be similar to women's meet. The 1,000 freestyle will be replaced by a 400 IM and both relays will be 200 yards. Three races have been added -- the 100 butterfly, the 100 breaststroke and the 100 backstroke. Both teams agreed to add the 100-yard races to prepare for upcoming championship meets. "We need to do 100-yard races in a meet situation," Robinson said. "And the 200-yard sprint relays will greatly benefit us -- especially the freestyle relay." For the first time this season, the men and women will hold their meets simultaneously. The men and women will rotate turns in the pool but scores will be kept separately. "One of the great things about this meet is that both teams will be competing at the same time," Robinson said. "It's great when the whole team gets on the deck together to cheer each other on."