Coming off a season in which it broke the school record for most points in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championship meet, the Penn men's swimming team begins this season with the hope of building on that success. The Quakers must work hard to accomplish this goal and to make up for the loss of five seniors to graduation, including Jeff Brown, a two-time NCAA qualifier and the holder of three Penn individual records. "We had a strong class of five seniors who contributed heavily to the team," Quakers coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "This year, we have a younger team and we'll be in a fight in a lot of events in the league." Penn's youth does not mean that they lack accomplished swimmers. Sophomores Matt Reilly and Jon Maslow both had tremendous freshman years, placing fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke at Easterns. These young Quakers are also not without leaders. Senior captain Colin Robinson will swim in the 200-butterfly, as well as the 200- and 400-individual medleys. Penn will look to Robinson to score points, but they will look to him more as a team leader. "The team voted for Colin Robinson to be their captain," said Lawlor-Gilbert. "I think under his leadership, they will be a tough squad." Robinson expects the Red and Blue to continue to build upon its past success and not to slip to the back of a league that many predict will be dominated by Harvard and Princeton. "One thing we've established in the last few years is a team that is prepared for every contest," Robinson said. "We must continue to build on that success and that work ethic." In addition to Reilly and Maslow, Robinson expects seniors Rob Hassett and Mark Spenner, as well as juniors Graham Rigby and Paul Poggi, to continue to lead the team this year. On the other side of the pool, diver Kyle Goldbacher returns as one of the top divers in Penn history. Last year, as a freshman, Goldbacher placed sixth at Easterns in the three-meter event, becoming the first Quakers diver to reach the diving finals in the event in 20 years. "He [Goldbacher] was only tenths of a point out of fifth place last year, so he has done exceedingly well," Lawlor-Gilbert said. Despite returning several Eastern qualifiers and point scorers, every meet will be a challenge for Penn. Last season, the team finished with a dual meet record of 4-5 in the EISL, which consists of the eight Ivy League schools, Army and Navy. One of Robinson's goals for the team is to improve upon this dual meet record. "I expect the team, like all of our teams in the past, to be competitive in every dual meet and to be prepared to swim every Saturday," Robinson said. Robinson's team is now preparing for this Saturday, when it will face Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., in the first meet of the season. Last year's meet against the Big Red was a battle in which Penn prevailed by three points. If the Quakers are to succeed this season, they will again have to rely on winning closely contested meets. "I want to get the team ready to swim as tough as possible in the first meet and take it from there," Lawlor-Gilbert said.
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