The men's and women's swimming and diving teams have a lot to be grateful for during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Both teams routed La Salle (4-4, 0-2 A-10 men; 2-6, 1-1 women) yesterday at Sheerr Pool, taking the top three finishes in several events. The Quakers won 14 of 26 events on the day. The Quakers nabbed the first-place spot in 15 of the events. In addition, junior Janis Scanlon became the first diver in recent memory to qualify for the NCAA Northeastern Zone Meet.
"Janis qualified to the NCAA zone meet, which is a huge deal," Penn diving coach Julie Van Deusen said. "I don't think Penn has ever had anyone go to that, at least not in a very long time. It's very exciting, and she deserves it."
"I just really wanted to do my best today," Scanlon said. "I missed Zones by 10 points last year, so Zones was definitely a goal of mine this season, so I'm glad that I got it out of the way this early in the season."
Penn's men blew out the Explorers, 140-98 and improved to 3-2, 0-2 Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League.
"We caught La Salle at a time in their season when they weren't real focused on this meet," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "I thought our guys stepped up nicely."
Sophomore Yuchi Zhang won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 59.31 seconds.
"The time was just around my best time in dual meets," Zhang said. "I felt pretty good in the water."
Sophomore Pat Gallagher won his two events, the 200-yard freestyle in 1:43.69 and the 100-yard freestyle in 47.35 seconds. The men also swept the top three spots in the 200-yard medley relay. The top time was 1:36.78. They also took the top three spots in the 1000-yard freestyle.
"The sprints were good-- [John] Gillette and Kevin Scott going one-two in the 50 was nice," Schnur said.
On the women's side, the Quakers beat the Explorers with ease, 137-94 and improved to 4-1, 1-1.
"For the women, we had some fun today -- people swam some off events, we had some strange lineups, we had people swim events they don't normally swim," Schnur said. "We had a real strong 1650 by Theresa Altieri leading off the meet." Altieri finished with a time of 17:22:04.
"The girls just had a good time," Schnur said. "They trained real hard yesterday, and they trained real hard this morning."
Penn took both first and second place in the 200-yard medley relay. The first-place team finished in 1:51.28. Penn also swept the top three spots in the 400-yard individual medley.
After dropping their last meet against Princeton and Cornell, the Quaker men now look forward to a competitive meet against Columbia on Dec. 10.
"We swim against Columbia in two and a half weeks, and they're just swimming phenomenally now."
The women have an equally exciting meet against Columbia on Dec. 2.
"It's going to be an unbelievably competitive meet," Schnur said. "Our times are about the same as Columbia's in virtually every single event. Last year's meet against Columbia came down to the last relay, and I think this year's might end the same way, too. They're very tough up in New York, and it's going to be a great meet."
Meet results - Men win 140-98 - Women win 137-94 - Penn won 14 of 26 events - Janis Scanlon qualified for NCAA zone meet - Pat Gallagher won both individual races he competed in
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