Men's swimming looks to even Ivy League record

The Penn men's swimming team hopes to repeat last year's win over Columbia on the road Saturday. The year was 1991. George Bush was president and Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls had not yet dethroned Dennis Rodman's Detroit Pistons for the title of basketball's best team. And it was the last time the Penn men's swimming team finished with a winning record in the Ivy League. With wins in their two remaining dual meets, the Quakers can do what only five other Penn squads have done since World War II: end the year over .500 in the Ancient Eight. It won't be easy for the Red and Blue, though. Columbia (4-4, 1-4 Ivy) is the first obstacle for the Quakers (8-7, 2-3). Last year at Sheerr Pool, Penn defeated the Lions 133-108. The Quakers will jump into the pool at the Dodge Physical Fitness Center at noon Saturday knowing that they need a similarly steady meet to defeat their New York rivals. "I think it's just going to be a team thing," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "There's no one real big event. It's going to be tough all the way through." Columbia has a strong group of sprinters, so the onus will be on the Penn strokers and relay teams to put points on the board if the faster freestyles do not go the Quakers' way. That importance will be further intensified with the 400-yard individual medley replacing the 1,000-yard freestyle in the event schedule. "It's something [Jim Bolster, the Columbia coach] and I agreed on," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Otherwise, everything is going to be normal. Stroke versatility will come into play a little bit, and the lineup is pretty standard." The Quakers' lineup for Easterns is not set yet, however. Trying to make the squad for the season's biggest meet will be an inspiration for some of the Penn swimmers in the pool on Saturday. "Those guys looking to get the spots -- they'll play a really important role in the meet," Penn senior captain Paul Poggi said. "That's one of the focus things for this weekend -- to get behind those guys and have them swim well for us." Like Big 5 basketball games, Penn-Columbia swimming meets always seem to come down to the wire, no matter how good either team is. "It's a real good rivalry -- maybe the Philadelphia-New York thing plays into it a little bit," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Very seldom have we had lopsided wins or losses against them." In such meets, the deciding points often come from the relays, and that's where Poggi goes to work. "I'll do my job," Poggi said. "That's what I do. In dual meets, I've never been the highest point scorer, but I do manage to eke some out and I help out on the relays." If the Quakers come back to West Philadelphia with a 3-3 Ivy League mark, their February 20 meet against Harvard will take on added significance. "They have the confidence to give it everything they have," Lawlor-Gilbert said of her team. "Harvard is right on top of the conference, but I'm confident that our guys will give it everything they have." All season, Lawlor-Gilbert has compared this group of Quakers to her squad from 10 years ago -- both are scrappy and neither were expected to perform well. Ten years ago, a seemingly invincible Princeton team came to Sheerr Pool and left with a loss as the Quakers started down the road to only their second winning season in 17 years. If Penn returns from New York with a win this weekend, they will have the opportunity to give Lawlor-Gilbert another reason to compare the teams by shocking Harvard and finishing with a winning league record.