M. Swimming splits opener

The Cornell swimmers' cheeks were, true to name, both big and red last Friday at Princeton's Denunzio Pool after they suffered a huge loss to the Penn men's swimming team. "We actually really embarrassed them," Quakers senior Jon Maslow said of the win over the Big Red. "We lost a bunch of points in diving and we still beat Cornell soundly. They were pretty shell-shocked after the first three races." In Penn's first Ivy League tri-meet of the season, the Red and Blue (1-1) came away with a split -- picking up 165 points to Cornell's 134, but managing only 112 to Princeton's 179. But, coming in Princeton was considered a step above Penn and Cornell, so the Quakers were only hoping to beat the Big Red in what essentially amounted to a dual meet. And against Cornell, the Quakers improved upon last year's performance, when they defeated the Big Red 128.5 to 114.5. The Quakers' 31 point win is even more impressive considering that Penn lost approximately 20 points as a result of diver Matt Cornell's broken wrist, which was in a cast for the meet. The sophomore suffered the injury last week in practice when he hit the diving board; he was rendered unable to compete in the three-meter event because it was too high of a dive. Penn's Cornell, though, still dove in the one-meter event and almost took first. "[Matt Cornell] almost won -- he was only four points out of winning," coach Michael Schnur said. "When [his injury] heals he's going to be a force in our league next year." With the exception of Cornell, the Quakers' real success was in the lanes, and not off the diving board. Penn took first place over the Big Red in nine of 14 races, and in many cases secured second, third and fourth places when they did not take first. "I was happy with almost everything," Schnur said. "The 200 free was very satisfying. That was a big turning point for Craig Nelson -- he went through a big barrier and he dropped a second and a half [off his previous personal record]. "And the sprints were very satisfying -- we dominated Cornell." Newcomers also contributed to Penn's success, such as freshman Spencer Driscoll. "The best race of the day was the 200 fly," Schnur said. "Spencer Driscoll was losing with a lap to go and he turned it on in the last 25 and beat both of the Cornell guys. He's a very hard-working guy -- the Cornell guys don't train as well as we do." In picking up a win over one of their biggest Ivy rivals, the Quakers found what will likely be their strength for the upcoming season -- depth. Schnur believes this will be a major asset when Penn faces off with Columbia in three weeks. By all accounts, it looks like Penn is a growing force in Ivy swimming. Might it soon be the Tigers -- who are 24-1 against the Quakers since 1974 -- that fear Penn's arrival at Denunzio pool? "I definitely see a point in a year or two when we could battle Princeton," Schnur said. "This is the deepest team we've had in 10 years. There are no weaknesses [in the events] at all. We're being led by a great senior class and all five guys swam superbly. "These are the five guys we've built the team around, [and] hopefully this will be their best year ever."