M. Swimming faces League power Harvard

When the Penn men's swimming team travels to Cambridge this weekend to take on Harvard, it will go with different motives than a usual dual meet. In other words, the Quakers do not expect to win. Instead, Penn (4-6, 3-6 EISL) hopes to make final preparations for the Eastern Championships. This strategy is probably the best one to take against league-leading Harvard (8-2, 7-1 EISL), according to the coaches. "Harvard is probably the best team in the league despite their loss to Princeton," coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "They are also a pretty big threat for the Eastern Championship meet." "We're not going with the intention of thinking we can win, we're going up with the idea with getting the best preparation for Easterns," Penn coach Michael Schnur said. "It's less of a question of who's winning the meet, and more of a question of what our final swims will be like for the final time before Easterns," coach Lawlor-Gilbert said. The coach could not point out any key matches for the meet because she guessed that the Harvard coach would rest some strong players due to the upcoming Eastern Championships. Lawlor-Gilbert also added that Harvard was a deep team, so they may swim a different string and still be strong. "We really can't be too concerned with who the Harvard coach chooses to rest and swim," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "We have to take care of ourselves." Penn has 17 swimmers and two divers traveling to the Eastern Championships March 5 at Army. The coaches choose these swimmers by their performances throughout the season. Each team takes the same number of swimmers and divers. This meet is the last dual meet of the season, and for those not going to the Eastern Championships, the final meet of the season.

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