After the end of the meet, the West Chester swim team huddled for a short meeting. Instead of wishing Penn's team good luck in a group cheer, the Golden Rams broke out into song, "Fly, Eagles, fly, on the road to victory ..."
While West Chester had the Super Bowl in mind, the Red and Blue focused in on the meet and pulled off two big victories at Sheerr Pool on Friday.
On the women's side, the Quakers won 174-126.
"The women didn't win until the last few events," Penn coach Mike Schnur said.
The Quakers (7-4, 3-4 Ivy) clinched the victory with sweeps of the 200-yard breaststroke and the 100 butterfly.
In the 200 breaststroke, freshman Megan Carlin, sophomore Margot Newcomer and freshman Sydney Sher took the top three spots. Carlin recorded a time of 2:26.39.
In the 200 back, Erica Gentilucci finished second for a personal best of 2:08.09.
"Erica had an awesome 200 back," Schnur said. "She hasn't swum that fast ever before."
The West Chester matchup marked the end of the women's dual meet season. They will now prepare for the Ivy League Championships, Feb. 24-26.
On the men's side, the Quakers (5-5, 2-5 EISL) won, 179-120.
"We continued our momentum from Dartmouth, Rider and Navy" Schnur said. "West Chester is one of the top five [NCAA] Division II schools and we were lucky to win."
The win was made sweeter because of West Chester's proximity.
"We've swum against the guys on this team a lot before since they're from Pennsylvania,"junior Kevin Scott said. "It's nice to beat a team that's close to you."
Scott finished second in the 50 free while classmate Tim Howett finished third.
"They have a lot of good sprinters, so the meet was more fun for me," Howett said.
Like the women, Penn's men took the top three spots in the 200 breaststroke. The Quakers also swept the 100 breast.
Sophomore Jon Kaufman took the 100, while freshman Yuchi Zhang won the 200.
"We had great momentum out of the breaststroke events," Schnur said. "It's tough for the other team to make up for two top-three finishes."
In diving, junior Tyler Markman notched two wins, at one meter and at three meters.
"Tyler did an awesome job," Penn diving coach Julie Van Deusen said. "He came very close to making the NCAA cut to qualify for the zone meet."
The men will close their dual meet season this Saturday at noon against Harvard at Sheerr Pool.
