The first day of events at the 2005 women's swimming Ivy League Championships was action-packed as Penn got off to a solid start at the three-day meet being held at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool.
Penn came into the championships 7-4, and is looking to finish better than last year's sixth-place performance.
And they're off to quite a fast start -- in fourth place overall.
The Quakers began the day with a third-place finish by Stephanie Colson, Jessica Aiello, Laura Hotaling and Kathryn Stores in the 200-meter free relay. The team also had two finalists in the 500 free, with Cammie Villarreal finishing seventh and Margot Newcomer finishing eighth.
In the 200 individual medley, sophomore Alison Bretherick broke her own school record, and finished 14th overall.
The Quakers had several other swimmers make it to the finals of their events including Stores, a senior, and Colson, a sophomore, who finished sixth and eighth in the 50 free, respectively.
"We had more finalists than we've ever had in the first day," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "We had a lot of fun."
In the one-meter dive, Penn's Janis Scanlon finished 11th with Kate McArdle 22nd and Kelly Tek coming in 23rd.
In the 400 medley relay, the Quakers' relay team of Stephanie Colson, Meghan Carlin, Stores and Aiello broke the school record and placed fourth with a time of 3:50.83.
Yale claimed first place in the day's final event, Princeton placed second and Brown third.
The meet took an interesting twist in the 400 medley relay. Harvard led the championships going into the race, however the Crimson dropped to second place overall after its relay team was disqualified.
After the first day of competition, Princeton is in the lead, while Penn looks forward to the second day sitting in fourth place overall.
The meet continues today and finishes up tomorrow with final heats beginning at 6 p.m. each day, as the Quakers look to build upon a successful start.
According to Schnur, this was the first time the Quakers were above sixth place at any point after the first day of Ivy championship competition, making this year's performance even sweeter.
"The girls swam amazing today and it was a lot of fun," Schnur said. "They were into every race, people were cheering and going nuts, it was really exciting. It was a great way to begin the meet."
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