Busy weekend ahead for M. Swimming in Ivies

The Quakers face Yale and Dartmouth on Saturday, then head for Brown. Until now, the Penn men's swimming team has had a fairly manageable schedule. But after averaging roughly one dual meet per weekend facing teams against which the Quakers could afford to have swimmers try new things, Penn will now kick it into high gear. The Quakers will face Dartmouth and Yale in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday and then travel down to Providence, R.I., to compete against Brown on Sunday. Although it would take a miracle for Penn to vanquish the Elis, the Big Green ought to be a pushover for the Red and Blue. Dartmouth has lost every meet this year, including one against Columbia, a team Penn destroyed, 146-88, on December 11. The real question this weekend will be whether the Quakers will be able to defeat Brown, as the Bears are comparable to Penn in ability. Coming off a loss last weekend to a superior Navy squad, the Quakers are hoping to follow up on the success of their season's earlier outings, in which they had a five-meet winning streak that included victories over Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League opponents Cornell, Columbia and Army. After beating the Cadets for the first time in 25 years, Penn will need to defeat both Dartmouth and Brown this weekend in order to eradicate another blemish on its record -- not having finished above .500 in the EISL since 1991. Penn will have to be in fine form this weekend if it is to emerge victorious. The Quakers floundered in diving last Saturday against Navy, with only sophomore diver Matt Cornell competing against four Midshipmen divers. The Red and Blue will try to fix that problem this weekend by adding senior diver Mike Previti to the lineup, which will help to hold on to crucial diving points that can ultimately determine the outcome of a tight meet. "Brown has two divers that are both very good," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "Matt Cornell is improving every week, but [the diving events] will be tough." Saturday and Sunday will be the last chance for Penn to face beatable EISL opponents before the league championships take place March 2-4. The Quakers' meet against Brown will constitute an even tougher challenge to them because they have to perform well enough to beat Dartmouth and still preserve enough energy to take on the Bears the following day. Brown will face Harvard on Saturday but will most likely save its energy for Penn, since the Bears will have their hands more than full trying to defeat the talented Crimson. "We're going to go into Brown with our strongest lineup," Penn freshman Spencer Driscoll said. "Brown is a good team, but so are we. So we're going to give them a run for their money." Penn knows what it is up against on Sunday. The Bears have destroyed the Quakers in dual meets the last two years. If the Quakers are to emerge victorious, they will have to win events in the freestyle and the individual medley and place well in diving. Schnur will try his best to preserve the best swimmers for Sunday, but the combination of travel and back-to-back meets is going to make Brown a very difficult opponent to beat. "We've been really training and following the experience of the upperclassmen," Driscoll said. "The team has learned that competing when you're tired is what these meets are all about."