Teuscher, Lions dominate W. Swimming

With the Penn band playing and with the deafening cheers of Quakers fans reverberating off the walls of the hot, humid building, one could have mistaken Sheerr Pool for the Palestra on Friday night if it weren't for two important facts: One, while the Quakers scored over 100 points, no free cheesesteaks were awarded; and two, it was the Penn women's swimming team that was the main attraction, despite the fact that the Quakers were trounced by Columbia, 189-108. Penn's record fell to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in Ivy competition. Perhaps the loudest performance -- other than the band's rendition of "Call Me Al" -- was that of U.S. Olympian Christina Teuscher, Columbia's superstar swimmer and captain. Although she only swam in three individual events and one relay event, Teuscher let everyone know why she is the best swimmer in the country. Teuscher put on a show. In her last race of the night, the senior finished the 400-yard individual medley in 4:15 -- not only the fastest time in the nation this year, but 27 seconds ahead of Penn's fastest swimmer, Margaret Jones at 4:42. The time was also a sizable 17 seconds better than the Penn school record, held by junior captain Cathy Holland. "As a swimming purist, someone who's been involved with swimming my whole life, I love watching her swim, because she's so good," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "She's the Michael Jordan of the Ivy League." "I was happy with that," Teuscher said of her showing in the event. "I was in a lot of pain before going into it, so I was a little nervous." Despite the loss, the Quakers seemed happy with their showing, especially considering the fact that many swimmers could not participate due to illness, not to mention that the team, as a whole, was tired. "People were really tired today, and everybody still swam hard and did well," Holland said. "I think it's a very good indication of where we're going to be next year." Holland won the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:27.1, and freshman Kathleen Patrizzi continued to impress with a victory in the 100 butterfly. And, despite finishing last, freshman Sue Breslin, with a bad back and a burned hand, noticeably improved in the one-meter diving event. One of Penn's goals going into Friday's meet was to have swimmers participate in events that they were not necessarily used to swimming, and the Quakers were happy with the results. Among Penn's successful events was Katie Kowalski's 500 freestyle and Kay O'Meara's 1650 freestyle. The Quakers head into the break at a respectable .500 and will not compete again until they swim at Drexel on January 8. And the Quakers can celebrate the New Year confident in the knowledge that they are making progress. "The Penn team is much improved, it was good to see," Columbia coach Diana Caskey said. "They seem like a different team from prior years, in their enthusiasm, the strength of their front-line swimmers and just the way they approach the meets."