W. Swimming stops Ivy losing streak at 42 meets

The Penn women's swimming team took the monkey hanging on its back and left it to drown in Princeton's Denunzio Pool when it edged Cornell in its season opener on Saturday, 153-145. The win over Cornell was Penn's first in its last 42 Ivy meets, a streak that spanned six years. And if not for an exciting finish and clutch performance by Penn's 400-meter freestyle relay, whose victory decided the overall outcome, the Quakers would still be mired in that losing streak. Penn's four fastest freestylers, freshmen Jessica Anders and Katy Sanderson and sophomores April Fletcher and Devin McGlynn, finished with a combined time of 3:34.72 -- less than a second ahead of Cornell's squad -- to give their team a win in the meet. "They swam really, really well," Penn coach Michael Schnur said. "[It was] the fastest dual-meet 400 free relay we've ever had." As Penn swam its way to victory, the scene on the side of the pool was pandemonium. As the rest of the women's team, many parents and the entire men's team cheered on the final relay, they were joined by Princeton's women's swimming team, marking the rare occasion that the orange and black root for the Red and Blue. According to Penn junior swimmer and team captain Cathy Holland, Princeton -- with the meet in hand -- pulled its swimmers from the final event to put the focus solely on Penn-Cornell. This is not to say, however, that the Quakers' win was due solely to the victory in the 400-meter freestyle relay; indeed, Penn saw many standout performances on the day. For instance, Holland set a school record in the 400-meter individual medley and missed breaking the school record in the 200-meter individual medley by just 6/100ths of a second. The Quakers also received help from their freshmen en route to the victory. In addition to the two freshmen who helped the 400-meter freestyle relay team pull off the win, Kathleen Patrizzi turned in a strong performance in her first collegiate meet, placing second in the 200-meter fly and qualifying for the junior nationals. Penn's day, however, might have been best exemplified by freshman Susan Breslin's performance in the one- and three-meter diving events. Recruited for swimming but volunteering to dive this year because of Penn's lack of any true divers, Breslin placed third in the three-meter event, and her four points were instrumental in the victory. "She showed a lot of heart and a lot of dedication to the team by doing something she hasn't done in a long time," Schnur said. While the Quakers ended up losing to Princeton in the three-way meet, their focus going into the weekend was a vulnerable Big Red squad whom they came close to knocking off last year. "We paid no attention to Princeton at all. They weren't the target. All we wanted to do was to beat Cornell," Schnur said. With the win over the Cornell, Penn achieved its main goal this semester -- winning an Ivy meet -- on the first day of the season, which will imbue the members of the team with motivation and confidence going into Georgetown in two weeks. For now, however, the Quakers can savor their long-awaited Ivy win. "As soon as we found out we won, it was crazy," Penn sophomore Michelle Wild said. "It's a really cool thing, especially for the seniors. There were lots of people crying at that point.? It was something we haven't had in a long time." "Everybody swam out of their minds," Holland said. "It was absolutely incredible." "It was a great day," said Schnur, a long-time assistant who won his first meet as head coach. "I've never had a more satisfying day in swimming and I've been a swimmer and coach now for a long, long time. Penn's women's swimming is back."