W. Swimming looks to improve under Schnur

New coach Michael Schnur brings a new approach to the team. The Penn women's swimming team does not want to think about its 0-42 Ivy League record over the past six seasons. Nor do the Quakers wish to ponder the fact that they have not had a winning season in the Ivies since 1990. Instead, as the '90s -- which have been brutal for the Quakers, to say the least -- draw to a close, Penn wants only to think about what lies ahead. And there is good reason to think that what does lie ahead is eventual, if not immediate, success. If nothing else, the Quakers can look upon their upcoming season with a fresh perspective for the first time in a while. In September, Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert, longtime coach of both the women's and the men's swimming teams, shocked the Penn sports community by announcing her retirement after 17 years of coaching the Quakers. Michael Schnur, an assistant under Lawlor-Gilbert for seven years, was promoted to the interim head coaching position of both the men's and women's teams, a move that many women swimmers praised. However, it appears that Schnur is in it for the long haul. "[Promoting Schnur] really helped make that transition a lot more smooth," junior co-captain Cathy Holland said. "We're used to having him as a coach figure." While Schnur and Lawlor-Gilbert, who was 115-124 during her tenure, worked together for several years, his coaching style differs from hers, which pleases the swimmers. "It's more serious than last year, which I like better," sophomore Devin McGlynn said. "We're really expected to be on time.? There's more consequences for missing a workout. The whole feeling of the team and the way it's moving is more serious." With Schnur and his new approach winning over a program that had been flailing in the water, the Quakers hope that the conditions are right for them to make modest strides toward respectability this season. Although the team went 2-9 last year in the Ivies, they showed noticeable improvement as the season wore on. By the time the Quakers had seen their last competition for 1998-99, they were already looking to the next season as the one in which they would improve their record to reflect more than just personal bests. A strong and versatile recruiting class only reinforced this notion. But they realize that it won't happen overnight. "We're getting close," Schnur said. "[But] it's a continuing process. It's not something where, from last year all of a sudden to this year, it's completely done. "We need one or two more recruiting classes to be fully where we want to be. [But] we're ready to improve a lot on last year. I think we're going to break some school records, I think we're going to improve our finish at Easterns and I think we're going to win more meets than we did last year." In order for Penn to do this, however, it must take full advantage of its team depth to make up for points lost in its weakest area: diving. The Quakers have no true divers, and while Daphne Hernandez will be diving coach for both the men and women -- a position unoccupied in recent years -- Penn will likely go into each meet with a large disadvantage. Schnur hinted that diving will be a top recruiting priority in years to come. As for swimming, the Quakers are remarkably balanced and can put a quality swimmer into Sheerr Pool for practically every event. "We have no weaknesses," Schnur said. "In years past, you could look at one or two events or one or two strokes on our team and say, 'We have no one in that.' That's not the case this year." Schnur added that the Quakers will also be strong in individual medleys. Penn will open the season, as well as its Ivy schedule, with an away meet Saturday afternoon against both Cornell, the Ivy team closest to Penn last year, and perennial power Princeton. Predictably, Penn sees beating Cornell as its first, best chance to make history of the 0-42 mark. As for the rest of the league, Brown, which has won the last two Ivy championships, joins Harvard and the Tigers as the teams to beat. Yale will also have a strong team, and Columbia, through the benefit of Christina Teuscher, a 1996 U.S. Olympian and arguably the best collegiate swimmer in the nation, will be a notch above the Quakers. Penn is hoping that this weekend can serve as a stepping stone towards both catching those strong teams and reaching greater success in 1999-2000 and beyond. "We really want to try to be competitive with Cornell," McGlynn said. "We think we can."

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