For sophomore diver Tyler Markman and the rest of the Penn men's swimming and diving team, this weekend is the grand finale. After an entire season of training, practicing and competing, this weekend the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championship will be decided.
Markman is one of the best divers in the Ivies. He has performed well all year, but this weekend will determine his season's success.
"I think he's one of the best eight divers in the league," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "Now is the time to step up and show it."
That is no different for every other Penn swimmer on the team. Now is the time to step up.
"Fast swimming, that's all I want," Schnur said.
This weekend, the Quakers will travel to Princeton, N.J., for the EISL Championships. The EISL comprises of feature all the Ivy League schools plus Army and Navy; it is the most important event of the season.
Although some of the Penn swimmers have an opportunity to make waves if they swim well, Penn, as a team, is not expected to break the top three.
For Penn, the goals are modest, but the expectations are high. Penn finished fifth last year, and probably won't do any better this year.
"It will be really hard," senior co-captain Shaun Lehrer said of beating last year's finish. "It would take something extraordinary, but I would be happy taking fifth again."
Schnur is excited about seeing this team have the ability to step up and do something. "Exciting swims could come from everybody on the team," he said. "I think we're looking forward to everybody's swim."
The Quakers (6-7) have had a season that can only be described as "interesting," according to Schnur.
"A lot of close meets, a lot of good competition all season," he said.
The season has seen its shares of ups and downs, including a close loss to Brown and a very tight win over Navy.
The Quakers have taken their normal losses to Ivy powerhouses, but this weekend will determine how good the season is on the individual and the team level.
And the team is ready. "We've been resting long enough," Lehrer said. "It's the first shaved meet of the season and guys are going to swim fast."
Schnur highlighted the diving and the distance freestyle as events to watch. Markman has a chance at cracking finals and Schnur wants the long-distance freestylers to make their mark too.
"The distance freestyle has the most guys, hopefully most of those guys will step up and do as well as last year," Schnur said.
Princeton and Harvard are expected to bang it out for the Ivy League championship with Yale and Columbia right behind them.
If Penn matches its performance from last year, the Quakers should finish right behind those teams. Pulling off such a feat would make a season marked by ups and downs end on an up.
