After proving its strength in the water in its season-opening meet against Princeton and Cornell, the Penn men's swimming team has set its sites above the competition of the Ivy League.
This weekend, the Quakers will make the 10-hour bus trip to Oxford, Ohio, to compete in Miami's (Ohio) three-day annual invitational. Penn will face some of the top teams from all collegiate divisions.
The Quakers are considered to be among the top contenders for the team title in this prestigious invitational.
"It will be a lot of fun," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "It's a great opportunity to swim as a team."
The Red and Blue hope to place in the top five in a pool that includes Michigan State, Miami (Ohio) and 22-time Division III champion Kenyon College.
"It's going to be a lot of good competition," Penn sophomore Eric Hirschhorn said. "We should be with the best of them."
Penn is looking to use this meet to gain experience competing in a championship-meet format. This involves the swimmers racing in both preliminary and final races, with the opportunity for the top 16 swimmers to score points for the team.
"You score points in depth," Schnur said. "You don't have to win all of the events."
Schnur is optimistic about the performance of his team. "We have a lot of guys who have a chance to make finals," he said. "We'll have to see what happens."
The Quakers are looking to make a splash in many of the events in which they are competing. They have been racing well consistently in the distance freestyle events, the 200 butterfly and the 400 individual medley.
After Penn's first-place finish in the opening relay against Princeton and Cornell, Schnur is excited to see what his team will do at Miami.
"There will be great battles in the relays," he said.
In order to prepare for a meet of this caliber, the Quakers are treating it as if it were a championship meet. They will rest for a few days prior to the meet and have been tapering in their practices. Additionally, they will go through the process of shaving, which helps the swimmers go faster both physically and mentally.
"We didn't shave first semester last year, so this should really help us to prepare for EISL Championships [in the spring]," Penn sophomore Adam Smith said.
After they return from Ohio, the Red and Blue will face Columbia at home on Dec. 7.
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