M. Swimming gets mauled by Bears to end road swing

The Quakers beat Dartmouth and hung with Yale but then got slaughtered by Brown. On this weekend's expedition into New England, the Penn men's swimming team was off to a good start until a pack of Brown Bears devoured them. The Quakers (6-4) met Yale and Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, where they handily defeated the Big Green, 189-97, and posted a respectable loss to a very talented Yale squad, 169-113. Penn was able to defeat Dartmouth with victories in the 100, 200 and 500-yard freestyle events, as well as the 400 medley relay and 200 backstroke. In addition, the Quakers managed to defeat both the Elis and the Big Green in the 400 freestyle relay and the 200 breastroke. Diving remained a weak spot for Penn on Saturday, with a fourth-place finish in the one-meter event and a fifth-place finish in the three-meter competition. However, Saturday's meet marked a good overall performance by the Red and Blue. The real trouble came on Sunday, when Penn was trounced by Brown in Providence, R.I., 161-79. Freshman Spencer Driscoll's win in the 200 butterfly was the only victory that the Quakers managed in the Brown meet's 13 events. Penn was hurt by a loss in the 200 breast, which has been an ace-in-the-hole for the Quakers in their meets all year. In addition, although the Red and Blue came in second in the 50, 100, and 200 free, Penn's inability to take away any wins in freestyle events contributed to their dismal showing against Brown. The Quakers were again unable to achieve a first- or second-place showing in either the one- or three-meter diving events. Even though Penn managed to place second in seven of the 13 events they raced against Brown, the scoring system at swim meets is unforgiving for teams that are not able to get to the top of the podium. There are nine points awarded for first place, four for second, three for third, two for fifth and one for sixth place. Thus, a team that does not place first must sweep second through sixth places in order to make up the points, and that little feat is nearly impossible when faced with a team of Brown's caliber. One reason for Penn's poor showing against the Bears this weekend might have been the long hours spent travelling from Penn to Dartmouth and then back down to Brown. "With the way the schedule was it was unrealistic to think we could have beaten Brown," coach Mike Schnur said. "It was suicide. The guys had no shot. I inherited this [schedule]. This was planned last year. The previous coach thought it was interesting to try. And it wasn't interesting. And we're not going to do it again." This weekend's losses effectively end any hope the Quakers had of finishing with a .500 record in the EISL. Penn still has one league meet against Harvard on February 19, but it would take a miracle of seismic proportions in order for Penn to beat the Crimson. The Quakers will have this week to lick their wounds from the Brown meet and prepare for Bucknell. Penn will not be able to resort to excuses about travel fatigue when they face the Bison right here in Philadelphia at Sheerr Pool on Saturday. Although this does not seem to be the year that Penn will break .500 in the conference, the Quakers still have a chance to end the season strong as they head into the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League Championships in March, where they will have a chance to race all of their Ivy League rivals once again. Penn will have to hope that they can execute better when they travel to the Easterns than they did on the road this past weekend.