W. swim falls to Harvard but beats Columbia
Breaking records seems to be a common occurrence for the Penn women's swimming team this season. The team traveled to New York this weekend and defeated Columbia, 197-103, but lost to Harvard by a score of 157-143.
After breaking 12 school records last season, the Quakers continued to excel, as freshman Stephanie Colson broke Penn's all-time 50-yard freestyle record by one hundredth of a second, posting a time of 23.55.
Colson was not finished after that race; she also helped to break three other Columbia pool records.
Her 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay teams did something unprecedented, as they achieved the first records that any Penn swimmer holds at another Ivy League school's pool. Junior Katie Stores, a member of the 400 freestyle team, also shattered Columbia's 100 freestyle record with a time of 51.42.
To say the least, Penn coach Mike Schnur was thrilled with his team's performance on Saturday.
"I thought we were great," Schnur said. "It was the best that I've ever seen them swim."
Although the Quakers are performing very well, Schnur indicated that hard, intense training still awaits them in the upcoming weeks as they prepare for their next meet against Brown on Jan. 17.
Due to inclement weather,Friday's Penn men's swimming meet against Columbia was postponed.
-- Eric Borowsky
W. squash remains undefeated, tops Brown
With every successive point, the composure of the Brown players wavered and many of them appeared to self-destruct in the face of unrelenting pressure from the Penn woman's squash team.
The fourth-ranked Quakers soundly defeated the Bears, 8-1, yesterday at the Ringe Courts after Saturday's match with No. 3 Yale was postponed due to the snowstorm.
Lorin Riley, Melissa Cosgrave and Elizabeth Evans all gutted out come-from-behind five-game wins in a testament to the Red and Blue's fitness and mental toughness.
For the second straight match, junior Linda McNair was the only Penn player to fall, going down at No. 1 to Brown's Lillian Rosenthal, 3-0.
The other five matches were all shutouts for the fourth-ranked Quakers (5-0, 3-0 Ivy) as Brown dropped to 0-3 overall and in the Ivy League.
Penn coach Jim Martel felt that the postponement both helped and hurt the Quakers. Penn stayed fresh for an extra day while the Bears lost to Princeton on Saturday, but the Quakers lost out on a chance to learn from a match with the Elis.
"We could have been a little sharper," Martel said.
The Quakers return to action Jan. 17 at Amherst College.
-- Josh Hirsch
M. squash tallies first win of season against Brown
After a disappointing 0-2 start to the season, the Penn men's squash team needed to make a statement this weekend.
The seventh-ranked Quakers had set the goal of finishing among the top-five in the nation, and their performance Sunday against No. 9 Brown was a step in the right direction.
The Quakers were simply dominant at the Ringe Squash Courts, soundly defeating the Bears, 8-1. Brown's players were only able to claim victories in six games and one match. Penn's No. 4 through No. 8 players were particularly successful, as all five swept their opponents, 3-0.
"Everyone brought their A-game," Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clark said. "We knew this was important for us to play well and get a substantial win."
The Red and Blue (1-2, 1-1 Ivy) looked like a completely different team from their lackluster performance in dropping matches to Cornell and Western Ontario on Nov. 22. Even more astonishing is the fact that the Quakers defeated Brown (0-3, 0-3 Ivy) without the services of junior Richard Repetto, who was named first-team All-American last year.
"Rich is suffering from a hamstring injury -- it could be season-threatening for him," Clark said. "I felt comfortable without him, but I didn't think we'd do this well."
Freshman Gilly Lane stepped up to replace Repetto at No. 1 by winning his match in convincing fashion -- 3-0 over Brown's Brad Corona. Lane is now 3-0 in his young collegiate career.
Penn's match with Yale scheduled for Saturday was postponed because of inclement weather and will be played sometime in January or February.
-- Jason Reefer
10 Penn athletes given All-Ivy Academic honors
Academic All-Ivy awards for fall sports were announced yesterday as each Ivy League school nominated five men and five women who were starters or key reserves on an officially recognized varsity team and had a 3.0 or better cumulative grade point average.
Penn's five female honorees include junior Katy Cross and sophomore Robin Watson from women's soccer, volleyball senior captain Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan, field hockey junior standout Liz Lorelli and cross country senior Elaina Lord.
The five Penn males distinguished as Academic All-Ivy include football senior place kicker Peter Veldman and junior punter Josh Appell, sprint football senior Chris Malachowski, men's soccer senior goalkeeper Matt Haefner and cross country junior Matt Van Antwerp.
-- Ryan Howard
