After beating a strong team from Army only one week ago, the Penn men's swimming team continues its run through the nation's service academies when the Quakers travel to Navy this Saturday.
In addition to facing a formidable Midshipmen squad, Penn will have the challenge of swimming in a pool that differs greatly from the one in which they usually compete.
Navy's pool is measured in 25 short-course meters, as opposed to the normal 25 short-course yards pool. The races will be much longer, which will be an obstacle for the tired Red and Blue.
"It's tough to win down there," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "We have only won twice in the history of the program."
Despite the difficulty of swimming in Navy's pool, the Quakers remain confident that they will win much like they did in last year's meet when Penn prevailed, 137-106, at Sheerr Pool.
"We still have a really good chance of winning cause we are a strong team," Penn sophomore Brendan Lang said. "It's going to be a tough battle, and the tougher team is going to win."
The Midshipmen are coming off two losses last weekend in their tri-meet with Yale and Cornell. Though Penn has yet to go head-to-head with the Elis, the Quakers beat the Big Red earlier this season.
Schnur is looking to the Individual Medley swimmers to lead the team through the meet.
"In order to beat Navy," he said, "the IMers have to step up."
The Midshipmen boast a strong group of IM swimmers, including freshman Brian DeMell.
DeMell captured the 400 yard IM against Yale and Cornell.
With a battle poised to take place in the IM races, Penn will be relying on a strong showing from its butterfly swimmers.
Lang, junior Nate Pinney and freshman Eddie Anderton finished first, second and fourth, respectively, against Army last weekend and are hoping for similar results in their upcoming race.
"We should do really well in the 200 butterfly," Lang said.
The Quakers will be tired when they dive into the water on Saturday because Schnur made the decision not to taper practices before the meet.
"Basically, we are training through," Lang said. "We are not backing down in practice and we are keeping the yardage up."
Schnur is maintaining the intense practice schedule because the second half of the season marks the shift from dual meets into preparation for the Eastern Championships.
The Quakers have struggled in the capstone meet in recent years and are looking for a much better showing this season.
"We're just tired of getting ninth place [at championships]," Lang said. "We really want to move up."
Navy placed fifth at last year's championships.
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