M.Swimming faces Ivy rival

After last weekend's fifth-place finish at the Miami (OH) Invitational, the Penn men's swimming team showed the country that it can swim with the best.

But, it has yet to prove itself in the competitive Ivy League.

The Quakers will have an opportunity to do so this weekend when they face Columbia on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Sheerr Pool.

Although Penn has narrowly defeated the Lions in its dual meets the past two seasons, Columbia has managed to beat the Quakers at the Eastern Championships each year.

"It's been a pretty good rivalry," Penn sophomore Matt Hand said. "It's prime time Friday night, and both teams are coming to swim. It should be a real good meet."

In last year's Quakers, 135-107, victory the Lions' top swimmer was out for the meet.

"If he had swam it would have been decided by three or four points," Penn coach Mike Schnur said.

The Quakers expect this year to be no different than the last.

"It was a great meet last year," Hand said. "It's shaping up to be a real good battle."

Last weekend, the Lions placed sixth in the Virginia Invitational at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Leading the way for the Lions sophomore Reid Evans, finished third in the 100 yard freestyle in 46.17.

The races may be close in the shorter events and the backstroke with Evans and a large group of talented freshmen swimming for Columbia, but the Red and Blue hold an edge in the distance freestyle and breaststroke events.

"We have the advantage in the longer free events," Schnur said. "And they don't have anybody that can match Chris Miller in breaststroke."

In Penn's emergence at the Miami Invitational, the Quakers had four swimmers place in the top 20 in the 1650 yard freestyle at the Miami Invitational.

While Penn junior Nate Pinney finished seventh in a time of 15.58.01. in the 1650, sophomore Shaun Lehrer, freshman Brian Funk and sophomore Todd Hutchison placed 14th, 17th 18th, respectively.

Columbia sophomore Nick Clements leads his team in that event boasting a 16:30.28 finish at the Virginia Invitational.

With Penn's inherent talent advantage, the only thing that may stand in the way of a Quakers victory could be the swimmers themselves.

After traveling for 11 hours by car to and from the Miami Invitational -- the Penn team bus was sideswiped on the return leg, only prolonging the trek -- and competing in both preliminary races and finals for three days, the swimmers are fatigued.

"The weekend was tiring," Schnur said. "Hopefully we will be ready."

This is the Quakers' final meet of the semester. They will train in Florida over winter break and will return to Sheerr to face Army on Jan. 12.

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