Season Preview: Penn looks to improve from winless Ivy campaign

The women's swimming team is optimistic about the 1996-1997 season despite not having any seniors on the squad. The Penn women's swimming team looks forward to its upcoming season, hoping to rebound from a disappointing 3-8 year in which the team did not win an Ivy League contest. "With an upbeat attitude and new outlook, I believe that we stand to improve significantly, win more meets, and swim more effectively," sophomore backstroker Lauren Ballough said. Penn is coached by Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert, who has has been Penn's coach for both men's and women's swimming for 14 years. Having experienced numerous seasons, both successes and failures, she is not discouraged by the 1995-1996 season. Last year, she feels, should have no effect on the upcoming. The coach is hesitant, however, to set out strict expectations for the season. "With such a young team, I'm cautious about what I say in print. It's not that I don't have faith in them, but swimmers, in general, put a lot of pressure on themselves," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "I don't want to set out a list of expectations and then have them feel that they have disappointed me. I will add, though, that they're a hard-working, hard training team and their intentions seems clear by the way they practice." The swimmers themselves seem very optimistic about the upcoming season. Technically, they will focus on the little things: turns, starts, and aggressiveness. In terms of numbers and talent, they gained more than they lost in terms of the outgoing seniors compared to the incoming freshmen. Overall, they expect to take a step up from last season. "We're going to win a couple of Ivy League meets this year," said sophomore Jen Triolo, both a freestyler and backstroker. "We're a strong team, we have a great freshman class, and we're ready to compete," said sophomore Jen Triolo, who both a freestyler and a backstroker. There are no seniors on the team this year, and the juniors have taken over the leadership roles. Kourtney Krom, one of the co-captains, has great faith in this year's team. The Quakers have had consistently challenging workouts, and successful time-trial practices have given them hope for the upcoming season. "We have much more depth this year," Krom said. "The freshmen are extremely talented, the returning sophomores are building on their talent, and the juniors have done a great job of assuming leadership roles." However, the team has been criticized as one that cannot manage to stay afloat. But this year the Quakers are resolved to erase their reputation as a drowning team. Their dedication, determination, and hard work-outs should help their performances. When her swimmers expressed concern that they had a negative reputation and only heard negative comments about their meets, Lawlor-Gilbert immediately silenced them. She emphatically disagreed with the criticism, and encouraged them to be optimistic and focus on their talent. "Any person who knows the training schedule and the kind of effort that you put in has to be brain-dead to say that you are unsuccessful," Lawlor-Gilbert told her team.