W. Swimming takes a dive versus Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.

Experience proved the deciding factor in the Penn women's swimming team's 159-118 loss to Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., on Saturday. A young Red and Blue squad featuring 10 freshmen almost pulled off the upset against a stronger Cornell team led by nine seniors. Although the score was not close, the finishing times of Penn swimmers were fractions of a second off from the winners. "A perfect example of that [Cornell's seniors vs. Penn freshmen] was the 200-[yard] freestyle," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Their senior got first, but [freshman Katie Kowalski] swam brilliantly to finish second." Kowalski finished in two minutes, 0.08 seconds, only 0.46 seconds slower than the winning time of 1:59.62. The best performance of the meet for the Quakers (0-1) was that of freshman Catherine Holland, who won the 200 individual medley in 2:13.04. Holland also finished third in the 200 backstroke behind two Cornell swimmers. Despite the loss, Lawlor-Gilbert was happy with her youthful team's performance, since it was the first meet of the season. "We achieved almost everything we set out to achieve," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "They are a much stronger team [than we are], but I was very happy that my swimmers were not intimidated at all. It is still very early in the season and already I have seen much improvement over last year." Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur was also optimistic about the outcome. "Last year, we got blown out against them (208-92), so in that regard, we did very well up there. Also, since a lot of our young girls were competing against their seniors, we should give them a very tough fight next year." "Kathy [Holland] was great in the 200 IM," Schnur said. "We haven't beaten them [Cornell] in a 200 IM in the past seven years that I have been here." Although Lawlor-Gilbert made it clear that she was not making excuses for the loss, she did comment on Cornell's swimming facilities. "The pool at Cornell is probably not one of the best we will visit this season," she said. "It was tiny, only six lanes and really hot. The markers were also not clearly visible." At Princeton (1-0) today at 4 p.m., Lawlor-Gilbert will continue to race her swimmers in different events to try to find their niche. "In high school, most of our girls probably were tied down to one or two events, but we are getting them experienced at different events so we can perform well at the La Salle Invitational, which is our focus meet for the first half of the season," she said. The Quakers will have to face the Tigers, who both Lawlor-Gilbert and Schnur consider the second-best Ivy team after Brown, without junior Lauren Ballough and freshman Jessica Klugman. They are out with shoulder and arm injuries, respectively. Ballough, who would have solidified Penn's backstroke contingent against both Cornell (1-0) and Princeton, will be sidelined until Christmas. The dual meet with Princeton may include some nonstandard events, according to the Penn coach. "We (Lawlor-Gilbert and Princeton coach Susan Teeter) may try out things like a 400 IM, which is not in a usual dual meet program," Lawlor-Gilbert said. The Tigers finished fourth at the Eastern Invitationals last year, well ahead of 10th-place Penn, and defeated the Quakers 179-106 at Sheerr Pool. Against Princeton, the Red and Blue will focus on finding the right events for their young swimmers prior to the December 6-7 La Salle Invitational. Lawlor-Gilbert maintains that this season's focus dual meets are against Dartmouth and Rutgers after New Year, but when the Tigers and Quakers rekindle their traditional rivalry at DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, Penn will be itching to avenge last year's home loss.