M. Swimming frosh steal show in seniors' goodbye

The Penn men's swimming team lost to Ivy League powerhouse Harvard in its final home meet of the year. The past, present and future of Penn men's swimming were all in Sheerr Pool on Saturday. The Quakers (9-8, 3-4 Ivy League) fell to Harvard (9-0, 7-0), the current giant of the Ancient Eight, 175-97. The score fails to tell the whole story, however. "It turned out to be one of our better meets," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "People stepped up in a variety of places." Freshman Kenneth Goh was undoubtedly the story of the day for the underdog Quakers. The breaststroker took top honors in multiple events while his second-place time of 57.37 in the 100-yard race came within 1/100th of a second of a 12-year-old school record. "You have to be delighted at his performance," Lawlor-Gilbert said. Mike Mattone's record of 57.36 was set way back in 1987 but it was fresh on Goh's mind heading into the competition. "I wanted to get the school record and give it as a going away present to the seniors," the freshman from Singapore said. "I came up just short but I was proud of our team in a way. I thought there was a really good atmosphere." Goh ought not to be discouraged. He has the next three years to eclipse Mattone's mark. Time is running out, however, for Penn senior tri-captains Graham Rigby, Brian Cohen and Paul Poggi. "The responsibility of leading this team can be too much for one person to handle," Goh said. "These three very different people were able to lead by both talking and by example." Cohen contributed to the Quakers' tally on Saturday as part of a 200-yard medley relay team that took third with a time of 1.37.04. Poggi, Rigby and Cohen were not overly impressive against the Crimson, but they closed out the day by swimming on a 400-yard freestyle relay team that took fifth place. The three seniors were honored at the beginning of the meet. "We all lined up on the side of the pool and one of the juniors announced something about each of the seniors," freshman Ian Bowman said. "They gave everybody a high five and coach a hug. It was great to see." Youth was Penn's driving force against Harvard. The Quakers took top honors in three contests on the day and all three went to freshmen. Goh won both the 100-yard and the 200-yard breaststroke. The only other Red and Blue victory was by first-year diver Matt Cornell. He won the one-meter competition and was the runner-up in the three-meter. Although the spotlight certainly shone most on the freshmen and the seniors, the rest of the Penn squad obviously factored into the result. Sophomore Kevin Rodin put together an extremely solid effort in the 50-yard freestyle at 22.49 seconds. This fourth-place finish came after Rodin had struggled in the past. "Kevin is the type of kid who has had problems with his health and with things just getting in the way of success," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "It was great to see him finally put it all together." Despite the emotional goodbye from Penn seniors to their home pool this weekend, the most important meet of the season still looms on the horizon. The Eastern Seaboards Championships, held at Harvard's Blodgett Pool on March 4-6, will test the mettle of the Quakers' elite swimmers.