Making a splash at the EISLs

Throughout the second half of its season, the Penn men's swimming team has focused on one goal -- preparing itself for the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championship meet.

And now -- whether the Quakers are ready or not -- the EISLs are finally here.

This weekend, Penn travels to Harvard's Blodgett Pool to battle the nine other EISL teams. The 10-team conference is comprised of the Ivy League plus Army, and Navy.

The Red and Blue head into the Championship with a 4-5 record this season in the EISL and are unsure of how they will perform in the pivotal competition.

"We could go a lot of different ways," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "There are no weak teams competing this weekend, and it should be interesting to see how far we have come as a team."

A great deal of Schnur's uncertainty is due to the fact that the Quakers have a very young team, as 12 of the 17 swimmers are freshmen and sophomores. "They could swim out of their minds, or they could get nervous," Schnur said of his young swimmers. "It should be interesting to see what we can get out of them."

Though they may be less experienced, many of the younger swimmers hold the highest seeded positions going into the meet.

Penn sophomore Adam Smith is seeded fourth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:53.28 -- a time he earned at the Miami (Ohio) Invitational. Since setting that time, he has since suffered injuries that have hindered his ability to perform throughout the second half of the season.

Other Quakers have also joined Smith on the injury list. While many of the swimmers have returned to the line-up, Penn is still competing without sophomore Lowell Lamb and senior Dave Hausladen.

"It should be good to see the injured guys come back," Schnur said. "We have a lot of things to make up for."

While trying to compensate for missed players and inexperience, the Red and Blue will also be faced with the challenge of competing against teams that obliterated them in dual meet competition.

Harvard, Princeton and Yale each beat the Quakers by over 100 points.

And while freestyle distance events have emerged as the Quakers' strongest races, these are also the strengths of the leading teams.

The obstacles continue to mount, as Penn will also be headed to Harvard without any divers. The lack of additional points from the diving squad will provide yet another disadvantage when the total scores are tallied.

While the shortcomings of the Quakers' roster will limit them from climbing into the upper echelon of the EISLs -- Penn is careful to keep in mind that the event is intended to be an individual meet.

"The Championships are not a true measure of a team's strength," Schnur said. "Only the guys are measured."

The Quakers are looking to improve upon last year's disappointing ninth-place finish.

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