M. Swimming drowns Dartmouth, falls to Yale

The Penn men's swimming team fell to a much stronger Yale team, but easily defeated Dartmouth at Sheerr pool. When the Penn men's swimming team was dominated by Navy last weekend, Quakers coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert believed it was a wake-up call as the team entered a difficult part of the season. That belief seemed true as the Quakers (3-6, 2-6 Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League) defeated Dartmouth 152-88 and competed with a much stronger Yale team in a double dual meet Saturday at Sheerr Pool. Despite losing 160-95 to the Elis (8-1, 5-1 EISL), the Penn squad improved in several events and had a few swimmers swim their lifetime bests while unshaved and untapered. "I thought Penn swam great," Yale coach Frank Keefe said. "I honestly didn't think the meet would be that close. We are pretty strong in events like the 1000 freestyle, which we didn't win." The winner of the 1000 freestyle was Quakers freshman Blake Martin, who was recognized by both Lawlor-Gilbert and Penn captain Colin Robinson as one of the meet's top performers. "Blake Martin swam an awesome 1000," Robinson said. "The coaches have really been pounding the guys in practice, and he came through." Robinson also helped the Quakers put some pressure on Yale by winning the 200 butterfly for the second straight week. Robinson, along with Jon Maslow, the winner of the 50 freestyle, provided veteran leadership while freshmen like Martin and Matt Dicker, who swam quality times in the 200 and 500 freestyles, contributed to Penn's success. "Yale was expected to blow us out of the pool, which, although they won by a healthy margin, they really didn't do," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "But I expected much more of a fight from Dartmouth. I think we intimidated them." Prior to the meet, the Quakers did expect to beat Dartmouth (1-8, 0-4), but they did not expect to do it with the ease they showed against the Big Green in their victory. "I was surprised by the Penn-Dartmouth score," Keefe said. "I guess Dartmouth just doesn't have the depth to get those extra points." One event in which Dartmouth did score some points was three meter diving, which was won by the Big Green's Toby Hays. The Quakers, however, did gain some points in this event as junior Matt Gries and sophomore Kyle Goldbacher finished second and third, respectively. Goldbacher also took first place in the one meter event. When Navy destroyed the Quakers last week, the team used it as inspiration for this double dual meet. Although Penn does not have the depth to compete successfully against better teams like Yale, it felt it accomplished its task.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.