M. Swimming takes sixth at Easterns

Brown lost his first race of the season, but also won 2 events There have been two constant forces this season in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League -- the Harvard squad and Penn's Jeff Brown. The Crimson thrashed every league opponent it encountered this season, while Brown, thrashed every opponent, period. Saturday, both battled to keep their undefeated seasons alive at the Eastern Championships. Harvard held on, amassing 808 points during the three-day competition to reclaim the title it lost to Princeton a year ago. Three-tenths of a second separated Brown from the same feat, as the Crimson's Eric Matuszak narrowly defeated the Quakers captain in his last league race of the season, the 200-yard freestyle. That race hardly blemished performance of the near-perfect Brown, whose three-day point total eclipsed the entire Brown team. The Quakers junior blew past Harvard sophomore Brian Younger to win the 500 freestyle. He also defended his title in the 200 butterfly. His times in each of his individual events met the NCAA B qualifying standards. Propelled by Brown and strong freestyle relays, Penn finished sixth out of 10 teams with a total of 259.50 points, defeating Cornell, Yale, Brown and Dartmouth. Princeton finished in second, 104 points behind the Crimson, followed by Navy, Army and Columbia. "We swam great as a team," Quakers sophomore Colin Robinson said. "A lot of guys came and swam their lifetime bests, and we beat Cornell -- a team that beat us in December. It was really a tremendous meet." Harvard, Princeton and Navy were expected to claim the top three spots, but Penn, Yale, Army, Cornell and Columbia all had a chance to grab fourth. Army prevailed, with Columbia sneaking in for fifth. Although the Quakers beat Columbia earlier in the season, the Lions' finish surprised few. "Columbia's strong," Robinson said. "They only beat us by 30 points. And that's a result of some people who didn't get into finals." Parity seemed to be the name of the game after the top three. One hundred points was all that separated the fourth place team from the eighth. Only two other Quakers made the top eight in an individual event. Junior Ken Fletcher placed sixth in the 200 butterfly, and freshman Ryan Kafer snagged eighth in the 100 butterfly. Kafer also won the consolation 50 free final, earning him ninth place overall in the event. The freshman also had the sixth-fastest time in the 100 freestyle. Fletcher took 10th in the 100 butterfly. Penn did not dazzle in the individual events, but the relays were another story. The Quakers corps of Brown, Kafer, Fletcher and senior Geoff Munger placed second in the 800 freestyle relay, third in the 200 freestyle relay and fourth in the 400 freestyle relay. Penn's medley relays didn't scare anyone in the regular season, yet they managed to hold on for sixth place in the 200 individual medley relay, while the 400 IM relay team came in eighth. "Our free relays were tremendously important," Robinson said. "They placed high and got everyone fired up. A lot of guys really stepped it up and showed how deep we are in the free event. The outlook for next year is very good."