W. Swimming cuts through Garnet Tide

With last night's 118-75 win at Division III Swarthmore College, the Penn women's swimming team got its first win of the season and put itself in a position to correct last year's mistakes. Last winter, the Quakers' season went awry after starting exactly the same way as this year. The Red and Blue lost to Cornell and Princeton, then beat Swarthmore, and placed second out of four teams at the Colgate Invitational. The rest of the season was disappointing, as the team managed only three wins and finished 0-7 in the Ivies. Assistant coach Mike Schnur, recently in the news for guaranteeing a victory over Swarthmore, came through on his word thanks to performances like freshman Cathy Holland's victory in the 200-yard backstroke, which came in a time of two minutes, 10 seconds. "Against Swarthmore, it was more relaxed than our other meets," Holland said. "For this meet a lot of people experimented with their events to get ready for Saturday." The meet against Swarthmore was conducted in a men's format, which means fewer events and no diving. Despite this format and the loss of Jen Walsh, last year's highest finisher for Penn at the Eastern Championships, due to academic obligations, the team still proved too much for the Garnet Tide. "We won or got second in almost every race," Quakers junior co-captain and freestyler Lauren Hibbert said. "We exhibitioned the last few events and so we probably lost some points there, but it's the sportsmanlike thing to do." Hibbert and senior co-captain Christie Meyer swam fewer events against Swarthmore due to slight illness. Both are expected to compete at full strength in the La Salle Invitational. "I just need to get a little more sleep, but I should be fine for Friday," Hibbert said. Schnur's prediction that the Quakers would win was based on Penn's depth, which proved a big factor last night. "We swept a lot of events and everyone seemed to feel good in the water," Holland said. "We dominated to the extent that I wanted to change the lineup in some of the later races, just to keep it more of a race. But the Swarthmore girls did swim very well in some events," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. With the first dual meet victory of the season under their belts, the Red and Blue (1-2) face a different kind of challenge at tomorrow's La Salle Invitational. "We have a great opportunity to beat a lot of scholarship schools at La Salle," Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "It is a lot like the club swimming that most of our freshmen did in high school, so they already have that kind of experience." Schnur did not offer any official predictions on LaSalle, but stated that Penn is well prepared, especially after the mid-week dual meet with the Garnet Tide. Mentally, Penn should be at its very best, according to Hibbert. "We will be shaving before La Salle and that should give us a mental lift because you feel so much more buoyant in the water," Hibbert said. A clean shaven and mentally razor sharp Penn team will do everything in its power tomorrow not to relive last year. This 1-2 team features 10 freshmen who did not experience last year's disaster, and they believe that the post-Swarthmore part of this season will be much different than last year.