M. Swimming hopes to sink Midshipmen at Navy

This Saturday at Sheerr Pool, the men's swimming team will face off against the Navy Midshipmen. The meet will be tough, but the Quakers don't plan on backing down. "We will swim tired, but we will swim tough," Penn coach Kathy-Lawlor Gilbert said. More than anything, this weekend's meet will be a preparation for the Quakers' match-up against Dartmouth next weekend, as well as another chance for Penn (1-3) to improve before the Eastern Championships in late February. "Navy will be a tune-up for next week," assistant coach Michael Schnur said. "Our real target here is Dartmouth." Particularly expected to put up a fight this weekend is Penn's freshman diver, Matt Cornell, who came in second in diving against Army last week. This weekend will be an excellent opportunity for Cornell to prove himself, as he and the diving team compete against a number of NCAA Top 8 divers from Navy (4-4). "Matt has not had the strongest coaching background until now, but he's got a real strong head," said Lawlor-Gilbert, adding that she partially attributes Cornell's improvement to the team's new diving coach, Diane Trivoleski. "Navy has a lot of great divers, but our guys are getting better meet by meet." Tomorrow's meet will also be interesting because the line-up will deviate from the normal order -- with team members out for reasons ranging from sickness and fatigue to travel. "It's different swimming against any service academy," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Their guys can devote all their time to swimming. A lot of our guys -- Graham Rigby, for example -- are out on job interviews, which can take a lot out of their swimming." The changes in the line-up will also give the team the chance to gain a little experience, since some Quakers will be swimming new events. Overall, the coaches hope the meet will give them a better read on where they stand for the end of the year, particularly for the Easterns. Senior tri-captain Paul Poggi said he feels the Navy meet will be a chance for the team to hone its skills for future meets. "The season is rapidly approaching an end, and Navy is just another chance for us to practice, to swim fast in competition. We need to earn some Eastern spots," Poggi explained. While the team may seem to be concentrating more on future meets, they are no less concerned with the Navy meet itself. Swimmers and coaches alike predicted that tomorrow's meet will be a lot better than last year's race, when Navy took first in all but one event. "We have some excellent sophomore and freshman additions to the junior free this year," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "It's a big race, and now we have some added depth." Although things are going to be a little different tomorrow, Lawlor-Gilbert said she feels that the best way to attack this weekend's meet is to stay patient and stick with it. "It's all about desire and drive," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "We are going to get in the pool and go after them. It should be an interesting meet."