Heading into their opening dual meet for the 2002-2003 season, the Penn men's swimming team expected to face a stronger, more determined Cornell squad than usual, as the Big Red dedicated the meet to sophomore Scott Paavola, who died last month.
They were right -- the Big Red was ready to end the Quakers' three-year winning streak.
While Penn put forth a tremendous performance, as several swimmers set new personal records, the Quakers (0-2, 0-2 Ivy) fell to Cornell 140-103 and Princeton 168-75 last Friday in Princeton, N.J.
"I was thrilled with the way we swam," Penn coach Michael Schnur said. "We have a lot of reasons to be optimistic for this coming year."
While the Tigers -- who featured 19 Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League finalists and four NCAA qualifiers -- finished way ahead of the competition, the battle between the Quakers and the Big Red was more hotly contested.
The Red and Blue had to compensate for all of the Cornell swimmers shaving out of respect for the death of their team member. While the entire Penn squad supported Cornell's decision to shave, the Quakers realized that Cornell entered the meet with an advantage.
"We definitely support their move to shave," senior co-captain Spencer Driscoll said. "But we know that because of it they swam a lot faster."
The Quakers had an auspicious beginning to the meet as the foursome of Kevin Pope, Chris Miller, Nate Pinney and Eric Hirschhorn finished second in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:25:67.
"We were behind a full body length in the [medley relay] and battled back to beat Cornell," junior Andrew Trout said. "But they didn't take that to heart and rallied back."
The Quakers also received a huge boost from their 16 freshman recruits, something that coach Schnur was heavily counting on as the season began.
The Quakers took the second, third and fourth positions in the 1000 freestyle. Freshman Matthew Blasko took second with a time of 9:32:82 while sophomore Brian Funk finished third with a time of 9:40:67. Freshman Evan Jellie was fourth in 9:46:51.
Blazko also grabbed second in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:38.50, each time defeating a Cornell swimmer, while losing by a narrow margin to a Princeton.
"Blazko was the best on our team last Friday," Schnur said. "Each time he beat Cornell he wasn't far behind the Princeton guy."
Freshman Pat Maloney, a three-time Northeast sectional champion, won his first collegiate event, the 200 butterfly, with a time of 1:51:59. Freshman Neville Mitchell also had a strong meet, swimming the 100 backstroke.
"Neville Mitchell had a great meet, he just didn't win," Schnur said. "He lost to some shaved guys who he'll beat at the end of the year."
Besides the freshmen, the Quakers also had strong finishes from juniors Andrew Trout and Eric Hirschorn. While Trout finished second in the 50 free with a time of 21:09, Hirschorn set a new personal best with his fourth place finish in the 100 freestyle.
"A lot of juniors and seniors were faster in this meet than they were at the Eastern Championships last year," Schnur said.
With this in mind, the Quakers are looking forward to defeating some quality teams in the future despite the early season loss.
"This team has a lot of talent and promise," senior co-captain Kevin Pope said. "I think we're going to surprise quite a few people at the end of the season."
The Quakers will take a week's break from competition before they travel to New York to take on archrival Columbia on Dec. 6th.
