M. Swimming places sixth of 10 at Easterns

Plenty of Quakers swimmers set lifetime bests, but Harvard won. PRINCETON, N.J. -- After the 400-meter relay final, an overflowing and deafening crowd rose to its feet Saturday night at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool, and all the participants walked out of the Eastern Swimming Championships knowing they had staged a compelling and enjoyable three-day festival of swimming. The Penn men's swimming team did more than its share to add to the festivities with nearly every swimmer doing lifetime bests in his events. The effort did not always translate into points for the Quakers, who finished sixth out of 10 teams, but the final team score was Penn's highest ever and was a source of pride. After feeling frustration over watching its swimmers narrowly finish out of event finals and consolation finals during the first two morning sessions, Penn roared back Saturday night. The night was led off by Matt Reilly's fourth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke, in which he set a personal best time of 1:49.80, and climaxed by two seniors swimming their final races in the 200-yard butterfly. Leading from the sound of the starter's horn, Jeff Brown showed he was the class of the field in setting a pool record with a time of 1:47.09. Ken Fletcher finished sixth in the event to add key points to the Quakers' surge to overtake Brown for sixth, which had passed them earlier in the evening. "We swam superbly," Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "We've never scored 300 before. It is probably the best meet that Penn has ever had. It does somewhat lessen the frustration because we swam so well tonight. Relative to our ability, we swam better than any other team here." The Quakers' diving season also ended on a high note Saturday night when freshman Kyle Goldbacher finished sixth in the three-meter event. In becoming the first Penn diver in 20 years to finish among the top eight at Easterns, Goldbacher also put away memories of a disappointing showing in the one-meter event on Friday. His first two dives in Saturday night's final were slow and looked lazy in the air, but in an effort indicative of the overall meet for the Quakers, Goldbacher's fourth dive brought improved scores of sixes and sevens and led to crisper dives in the rest of the event. Goldbacher's finish showed signs that he may eventually improved to compete with sophomore William Dobbins of Navy, who swept the diving events. "I can't tell you how pleased I am," Penn diving coach Phil Bergere said. "It's quite an accomplishment for diving at Penn. He was a little bit conservative, but finally he came around and really went after his inward two-and-a-half and nailed it for sevens. He's done a tremendous job." Just as the coaching staff had stressed before the meet, Saturday night was a demonstration in the relative unimportance of scoring points when compared to putting up personal best times. Quakers senior Jon Levine won the bonus final of the 100-yard freestyle, and while his time of 46:71 earned him no points, it was his first time ever under 47 seconds. The lifetime best, posted in his final competitive meet, was enough to bring Levine to tears as he was congratulated by his family in the stands. Penn's personal bests were satisfying, but not anywhere near the level of Harvard and Princeton, which dominated the meet like two Godzillas in Legoland. Event after event featured Harvard claiming the top two spots with Princeton finishing third. Harvard's 838.5 points more than doubled every other team's total except for Princeton, which posted a healthy 701.5. Saturday night also capped off this rivalry as the 200-breaststroke final ended in a duel between Harvard's Dave Schwartz and Princeton's Dave Quinn. The race added to both schools' war chest of points as six of the top eight finishers call one of the two schools home. "I think we did a fantastic job," Crimson head coach Michael Chasson said. We've got a great rivalry with Princeton so anytime we can beat them it's always exciting. The guys felt very confident with the training they've done." The Quakers' finish would have improved with a few more qualifiers in both the consolation and championship finals and higher relay finishes. While Penn never finished below sixth in any of the five relays, their only top-three finish came in 800-freestyle relay on Friday night. The dozens of Penn supporters, including the Penn women's swim team, which continually delayed starts of races with their cheering, were oblivious to and obliterated the importance of these minor shortcomings. While Harvard was hopping into the pool for a victory lap Saturday night, the Quakers left Princeton with an equal number of smiles after achieving their pre-meet goals. "It started out as a fun meet and ended up being more fun," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "I can't ask for anything more when people do their lifetime bests. Every single person did one lifetime best. That's my attitude no matter what."

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