The Tigers take two from Penn

Both Penn men's and women's swimming teams lost to Princeton. When the Princeton Tigers pranced onto the blocks at Sheerr Pool last night they had nothing but victory in mind. Fatigue may have also contributed to the losses by the Penn men's and women's swimming teams, after two tough weekend meets against the Big Red. Saturday's meet at Cornell did not give the women's team much encouragement going into the Princeton matchup. They left Cornell with a 172-122 defeat and trudged on through the week until last night's sound defeat at the hands of the Tigers. Despite the women's loss, many of the swimmers were happy, if not thrilled, with their performances. "We saw some unshaved, untapered best times. We swam tough," sophomore Cathy Holland said. Swimming an outstanding race in the backstroke was promising freshman April Fletcher. "I swam my best time ever, and I was only four tenths of a second from beating the school record," Fletcher said. "It was a fun meet. We were outmatched but remained positive." But the Princeton swimmers did not let victory go to their heads. "Princeton is a good squad," Holland said. "They have fast girls, and I have a respect for all of their hard work. They are nice girls in and out of the pool. Most teams are not like that." The women's team did not expect a win over Princeton, but instead saw the meet as an opportunity to practice for goals they have set for later in the season. "Our big focus for the season is La Salle. Everyone is going to have to swim a lot of events. It's going to be a very long and tough meet," Holland said. "It's too early in the season to say how we'll place overall, but if the past two meets are any indication of our performance, we should swim well at La Salle," Lauren Hibbert said. The men's team met a more pleasant fate than the women's did at Cornell, with a 128.5 to 114.5 victory. They grabbed the top three places in the 50m and 200m freestyle races, as well as first place in the 400m Medley Relay, with a time of 3:47.2. "Cornell was a gratifying victory because a year ago there was a total role reversal, and we were the ones leaving with a loss. It was a tight meet both years, only this year more people stepped up," sophomore Brian Barone said. "It was great to beat a rival, especially in the fashion that we did." "The atmosphere at Cornell was great," sophomore Blake Martin said. "It was hand-to-hand combat, one-on-one battles. We were just driven to beat people. We carried this intensity from the first relay to the last, fighting the whole way through." Last night was a different story, as the men lost to Princeton 165-67. The team was not wholly disappointed with its performance, though, as it did not have very high expectations for its competition against the Tigers. "Princeton is one of the toughest teams in the league. We just wanted strong races, not to win," sophomore Ben Schmidt said. The team acknowledged the fact that Princeton simply performs on a higher level than the Quakers do. "We can't expect to wake up and be at Princeton's level," Martin said. "It's how we perform as individuals that is important. Times are times. It doesn't matter who we swim against." The men's team is unfettered by its loss to Princeton last night and instead is focusing on the positive aspects of its rousing victory over Cornell. "It's important not to grow complacent. We have to come off Cornell's meet and keep that momentum, no matter who we swim against," Schmidt said.