W. Swimming takes fourth at LaSalle

The Quakers took fourth in the La Salle Invitational out of eight teams, despite not having a single diver compete. Last weekend, eight Pennsylvania swimming teams stepped up to the blocks for the Philadelphia Invitational at La Salle's Hayman Center. The Penn women's swimming team finished in fourth place with 468.5 points. La Salle finished first, nearly doubling Penn's score with 809.5 points. The enormous point difference was the result of two factors. The Quakers, who swam "very, very well," according to Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert, were not represented in the diving competition due to special circumstances. Therefore, when the combined scores of swimming and diving were tallied at the conclusion of the meet, there were no added points for Penn. Drexel, who placed second overall, finished with 485 points, only 16.5 points better than Penn. West Chester, who finished third, scored 13.5 more than the Quakers. If the scores were based solely on the swim meet, the Red and Blue would have finished with the silver medal. In addition to its lack of divers, Penn had intensive training for the entire week, instead of resting its squad. "The whole idea with this meet was that we were going to try to train through it and work on being able to step up and race people without having to rest," captain Jen Walsh said. On the other hand, "most of the other teams [including La Salle and Drexel] backed off in yardage and training," freshman Devin McGlynn said. But the swimmers and Lawlor-Gilbert felt they did well despite the lack of rest. "I was really happy with my results," McGlynn said. "They were definitely faster than I usually swim this time of year." McGlynn, who had an outstanding meet, according to Lawlor-Gilbert, finished third in the 200 meter freestyle with a time of 1:58.53. McGlynn is not the team's only freshman sensation. April Fletcher came in second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:08.71, which qualified her for the ECAC. Three freshman -- Fletcher, McGlynn, and Adriana Pentz -- swam together along with junior Caroline Shipps to finish in seventh place with a time of 1:41.9 in the 200 m free relay. "The freshmen really stepped up for us," Walsh said. At the end of the two-day marathon meet, the entire Penn team was still swimming hard. "Everyone on the team did their part," Lawlor-Gilbert said. In the last race -- the 400m free relay -- McGlynn, Shipps, junior Michelle Anicone, and senior co-captain Lauren Hibbert finished third with a time of 3:41.97. The team finished behind only La Salle (3:35.91) and Drexel (3:38.19). "We knew it was going to be a hard day, but people hung in there and gave it everything they had," Walsh said.