After a disappointing ninth-place finish at the Eastern Collegiate Swimming League championships last year, the Penn men's swimming team was looking for vengeance.
The Quakers found it Friday at Sheerr Pool.
Penn began its season with a split decision in a home dual meet. The Red and Blue beat rival Cornell, 132-111, but were defeated by last year's Ivy League runner-up, Princeton, 177-66.
"I was thrilled," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "Cornell made us the focus of their first semester training, and we beat them. Our guys responded phenomenally well."
The Quakers started the meet strong and kept up their momentum throughout the competition.
"The first event, the 400 medley relay, set the tone for the whole day." Schnur said. "[Sophomore] Eric Hirschhorn started at least three yards behind Princeton and came back to win the race."
The Quakers used this early win as inspiration for the remainder of the meet. They finished one and two in the 500 freestyle, with sophomore Shaun Lehrerplacing first with a time of 4:40.10 and junior Nate Pinney swimming in just behind him at 4:40.68.
"Nate Pinney almost single-handedly dominated the meet," Schnur said. "He swam the 500 free, the 1000 free and the 400 IM, all of the hardest events."
Freshman Jeff Organisciak placed first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.33 seconds.
"This is the best early season meet I have ever seen," Schnur said. "And it's because the guys are in shape."
Up next for Penn is an invitational meet at the University of Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 30-Dec. 2, where it will face some of the top teams in the country.
"We're going to rest for a few days next week," Schnur said. "We made that the focus meet of our first semester, and the way these guys swim we can go out and face all of the midwest scholarship teams."
