Cornell is first up for M. Swimming

The Penn men's swimming team battles more than Cornell in its first meet on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., in Ithaca, N.Y. The team also faces the loss of five seniors, an unfamiliarity with the facility and a Cornell team that traditionally starts the season fast. "It's always a tough match-up," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Last season, both teams swam well." Last year's result, however, does not give much insight into Saturday's meet because many of the swimmers who won events last year for Penn were seniors. Although Lawlor-Gilbert admitted that the departure of five top swimmers will have an impact on the team, "experience is gained by competing," she said. "As the season goes on, the net effect of five seniors leaving will diminish. How much of an effect it is now, we'll find out on Saturday," she added. To compensate for the loss, Gilbert expects the team to swim "as aggressively and as tough as they possibly can." She hesitated to make any concrete predictions or set expectations for the meet due to the youth of the team and the fact that, for many Penn swimmers, this match is their first meet. "I'm not big on making predictions, but I do expect the squad to give everything they've got and I would hope that's how they will approach the competition," Lawlor-Gilbert said. The team also faces another obstacle in that most swimmers are unacquainted with the conditions at Cornell, which can cause problems. "We haven't been up there (to Ithaca) in a number of years, so our squad is really unfamiliar with the facility," Gilbert said. In addition, Cornell has started off their season quickly in recent years. Gilbert is unable to explain the trend, but she points to rumors of different training methods than those of the Quakers as a possible reason. "Cornell is always fast early in the season, and we always swim tough," Gilbert said. "If you look at the whole season, we get faster as the year goes on, so that's a little bit of a worry (for this weekend)." To combat Cornell's trend, Gilbert simply wants her squad to be as "prepared as possible for a tough competition." Last season, however, Penn had a fast start to its season, winning four of its first five meets. One of those wins came at Cornell's expense, as the Quakers beat the Big Red, 130-113. The win was Penn's first over Cornell in five years. The convincing victory was not indicative of the similar records with which the teams finished. Last season, Penn was 6-5 overall, with a 4-5 record in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League. Cornell posted a 5-5 record, 4-5 in the EISL. Despite the adverse conditions facing Penn at its first meet, Gilbert believes she has a "pretty good straight up squad" that will do its best to prove itself on Saturday.

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