M. Swimming faces Ivy power Harvard

It's not easy being a guppy in a shark tank. It's also not easy being the Penn men's swimming team in Harvard's Blodgett Pool. In both cases, you're going to be eaten alive. The Quakers know they have virtually no chance of beating the Harvard men when they face them this Saturday in Cambridge, Mass. The Crimson are currently ranked No. 20 in the nation by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America, and they are the only team with a national ranking in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League. In other words, Harvard eats teams like Penn for breakfast. The Quakers have no illusions about their chances against the Crimson. Penn will send swimmers who are not going to participate in the EISL Championships to Cambridge in order to give them one last chance to compete. Many of the swimmers who will be making the trip to Princeton on March 2-4 for Easterns are staying home this weekend to rest up. "We're trying to get some good swims in for the guys for whom this meet ends the season," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "[Harvard has] a great facility with a big, fast, deep pool." Most of the seniors will stay home this weekend, preferring to end their dual-meet careers at Penn with a blowout victory over Bucknell two weeks ago instead of a seemingly inevitable defeat against Harvard. The Penn team effectively splits into two separate groups with EISL Championships looming on the horizon. The Quakers can only bring 17 swimmers to Princeton, so those selected to travel to Old Nassau will taper their workouts over the next two weeks in preparation, while those not going will attempt to swim their fastest times in their last meet this Saturday in Cambridge. "We've worked really hard this year," Schnur said. "Now all we have to do is bring the yardage down and start fine-tuning their sprints." Tapering is key before any important meet. The process involves lowering the amount of work done in practice in order to allow muscles to recover and energy to be restored so that swimmers can be at their peak level of performance during the meet. Swimmers also shave their body hair as part of the tapering process. This practice cuts down on drag in the water and also provides the swimmers with the psychological effect of feeling like they're moving faster during the race. Penn's superior performance in dual meets this year might indicate that the Quakers will have a better showing at the EISL finale this year than they have in the past. "We should be in the top six in our events this year," Schnur said. "Last year we were in the bottom three." Despite having no hope of a win this weekend, Penn will go to Cambridge looking to have strong performances from those athletes not going to championships, as well as measure the progress of some of the swimmers who are going to vie for the title. With the season's capstone a mere two weeks away, Penn needs this weekend to prepare to take a bite out of some of the smaller fish in the EISL.