W. Swimming is routed, but sees silver linings in defeat

Although crushed by Cornell, 93-38, Penn was pleased with its improvement from last year. Although Cornell beat Penn in every individual event en route to a 93-38 rout on Saturday, the Quakers women's swimming team was pleased with its performance. Even though they didn't get the victory, the Quakers proved they are much stronger than last year. "Although the women's team lost by what might seem a sizable number of points on Saturday, the team put up its strongest fight against Cornell in the past few years, and it was just a tease of what the women's team has to offer," Penn freshman breaststroker Heather Wilder said. Strong performances were turned in by many Quakers in the losing effort. Sophomore Johanna Minich, a new addition to the diving team, came in first for Penn in both diving events. In the pool, the team's individual medley relay clocked the team's fastest time in recent years. Additionally, Penn had a strong showing in the 200-meter backstroke, paced by Lauren Ballough (fifth place) and Jennifer Triolo (second place). "We definitely scared Cornell, who changed their lineup around a lot after the first two events when they realized our great improvement," Triolo said. Another highlight of the meet was the winning of the 500 freestyle by freshman Jamie Taylor, who swam both the 500 (first place) and 100 freestyle (second place) and was the first Penn finisher in both. Her swim was particularly impressive because she beat the Cornell swimmer who won that event last year at Easterns by nearly four seconds. "You should have seen the look on the Cornell coach's face as she saw her Eastern champ get trampled by her," Penn freestyler Bridget Adams said. Possibly the greatest highlight, though, was the 400-meter freestyle relay team. Four underclassmen, Triolo, Heather Rouse, Caroline Shipps and Jamie Taylor, beat the Big Red. Cornell's top relay team, incidentally, consisted of all seniors. The Quakers' next challenge will be today against Princeton. The Tigers are among the nation's top teams, and they carry 40 women on their squad (twice as many as Penn). Princeton is expected to again be at the top of the Eastern Conference this year. "Princeton is red hot. We have our hands full as far as outcome," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "I'm going to move people around in their second and third events. When you're a coach and you know that the other team is so much stronger that you can't affect the outcome, you use it as a learning experience. It will show them where they are in their events as well as their training."