Continuing to persevere without some of its top swimmers in the lineup, the Penn men's swimming team was once again victorious this weekend, knocking off Army on Saturday.
Despite missing two of its top competitors for the second-straight meet -- Adam Smith and Dan Hausladen -- and being forced to rely on yet another makeshift lineup, the Quakers were able to prevail 134.5-108.5 at Sheer Pool.
"I thought we did pretty well, considering we were missing a lot of guys," Penn freshman Chris Perez said. "I was pleased with the way things came together."
Perez, along with his fellow distance swimmers and backstrokers, led the team to victory.
"We were carried through the meet by the 500, 1000 [yard freestyle], and the 200 back," Penn coach Mike Schnur said.
In the 1000 yard freestyle, Penn swimmers finished in the top three positions, with sophomore Shaun Lehrer leading the way in a time of 9:45.66. Freshman Brian Funk placed second, while Perez took third.
The 500 yielded similar results, as Lehrer and Funk once again captured first and second, respectively. Perez finished fourth.
The Quakers also swept the 200 yard backstroke. Freshman Noah Pink won the event in a time of 1:57.90. Rookie Nate Bagnaschi placed second and sophomore Lowell Lamb -- making his return to the Quakers after being sidelined with a broken wrist since late December -- finished third.
The Red and Blue outscored Army, 47-10, in the those events, giving the Quakers the early advantage and paving the way for a Penn victory.
Despite the continued strong performance of Penn's swimmers, the diving squad still struggled. Army senior Matt Lofton outscored the Quakers in both of the diving events.
Though Penn ultimately prevailed in the matchup -- bolstered by the efforts of the swimmers -- Schnur did not see the meet against Army as Penn's best competition of the season.
"No one set any personal records," Schnur said. "It was one of those meets where you were just trying to win."
Much like last year's meet against the Cadets, the Quakers were able to defeat Army, but not without a fight. Closer than the final score would indicate, Penn was hard-pressed to outscore the team that finished a place higher than them at the Eastern Championships last season.
"It was a great test of character to see how the guys swim tired," Schnur said.
After the victory against Army, Schnur will have the Red and Blue continue to train vigorously in preparation for their tough matchup against Navy this weekend.
"It's tough to win down there," he said.
In order to beat Navy, who was defeated by both Yale and Cornell this past weekend, Schnur will look for the Individual Medley swimmers to step up and lead the team.
"Their guys are fast, and our guys are fast," he said. "Our guys just need to swim faster."
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