W. Swimming learns from close meet and Ivy blowout

If Friday afternoon's Penn-Army women's swim meet was Sheerr Pool's version of a 12-round classic, then Saturday's clash with Brown was something of the Mike Tyson-Peter McNeeley variety. The Quakers (1-5, 0-3) dropped another heartbreaker in the last event Friday against Army. The Cadets won the 400-yard Freestyle relay to snatch a 158-142 win. At noon on Saturday, Brown (3-0, 3-0) was just too efficient and deep for the Quakers, and they showed it by placing first in every event en route to a 220-69 victory. "We couldn't close out races, like in the 50 free and the 200 free," head coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said." Since Penn could not shut the door on the Cadets, the two teams were virtually neck-and-neck going into the 400 freestyle relay. Earlier, Army had surged ahead by sweeping the 100 free event right after the first diving interval. The Quakers could have responded by taking the 100 fly but Penn sophomore Kelly James, swimming in lane two, was edged out of third place by 0.20 seconds. The Cadets' Jen Walsh won the event in one minute, 1.56 seconds. The Quakers eventually made their comeback in the three meter dive on the performance of freshman Alayne Rowan and sophomore Johanna Minich. After a mediocre performance in the one meter event, Rowan and Minich placed first and second respectively in the three meter to bring Penn back within 10 points. "The trick is to get a higher degree of difficulty so you can be competitive," Penn diving coach Phil Bergere said. "Both girls executed well in the three meter event." Immediately after the divers gave Penn some momentum, Cathy Holland won the 200 individual medley in 2:11.87. Penn needed a 1-2 finish in the 400 free relay to get the comeback win. Going into the second leg of the relay, Janea Jackson had given the Quakers a slim lead, but it was not enough to hold off the Cadets' surge. "Our heads were here today and everyone swam their best stroke," said co-captain Lauren Hibbert. "The divers deserve a lot of credit because they really put us back in the meet. It was anybody's meet right til the end." "In the 50 free, both officials thought we finished 1-2 but the timing system showed different results and they got second. Still, it was definitely a seesaw meet. The 100 free was big for them, but our divers brought us right back," Lawlor-Gilbert added. Bergere's divers could not have done much against Brown. The perennial Ivy champs were just too strong and fast for the Quakers, who had a different mindset going into the meet. Lawlor-Gilbert's strategy Saturday was to allow her swimmers to gain experience by participating in events that they would not normally swim. Consequently, Holland and co-captain Christie Meyer swam backstroke instead of breast, and Kelly James swam butterfly instead of back. "We approach Brown as a fun meet where we can get experience," Hibbert said. "They are a huge team and incredibly fast. We just had to get through the meet knowing that they are much deeper. The one good thing is that people get to swim off events and everyone has a good time." While the coaches maintained a similar attitude about the meet, Lawlor-Gilbert was very serious about eliminating small mistakes. "I said to the girls that they should use this meet to race. This is a great time to practice aggressive turns and finishes. Those are the things that will shave seconds off finishing times, and for younger girls like Holland, it is also great experience," Lawlor-Gilbert said.