Diving into a pool with some of the best swimmers in the country, the Penn men's swimming team showed the rest of the country how tough an Ivy League team can be.
The Quakers traveled to Oxford, Ohio this past weekend to compete in the three-day Miami (OH) Invitational. In a pool that included some of the top swimmers in the Midwest, the Quakers finished an impressive fifth of 17 teams with 877 points.
"Overall, we had a really good meet," Penn freshman Nate Bagnaschi said. "We accomplished a lot of our goals."
The diversity, size, and structure of the meet was similar to that which they will face at Eastern Championships at the end of the season.
"It gave us the experience of a three-day meet and it will help us prepare for Easterns," Penn junior Nate Pinney said.
The Red and Blue finished near the top in all of their events.
Penn senior Ian Bowman swam to an eighth place finish in the 200 yard breaststroke with freshman Carl Ericson and junior Chris Miller close behind in ninth and tenth.
Penn sophomore Adam Smith had the breakout performance of the weekend with his third place finish in the 200 Individual Medley in 1:53.28.
"It was a good experience," Smith said. "Now a lot of guys, like me, have a lot to look forward to for the second half of the season."
Penn's relay teams also performed well. The 400-yard freestyle team -- comprised of sophomore Andrew Trout, senior Russ Zuckerman, senior Dave Hausladen, and freshman Jeff Organisciak -- placed fifth with a time of 3:06.91. The 200 medley relay team placed seventh in 1:33.59.
The Quakers see this tournament as a way to get recognition for the Penn name in the world of collegiate swimming.
"We exposed ourselves to some other teams outside of the Ivy League," Smith said.
This meet also allowed the Quakers to continue to find a lineup that they will use in Easterns.
"We really got a sense of where the team stood," Bagnaschi said. "It gives us an idea as to who would swim what at Easterns."
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