The Penn men's and women's swimming teams headed down to Annapolis on Saturday. And just like last weekend's meet, they came away with two different results.
The men suffered their second loss in as many meets, falling 140.5-100.5, while the women extended their streak to three by beating the Midshipmen 157-100.
Since coming back from their annual winter break training trip in Florida, the women have enjoyed a run of solid meets, losing a nail-biter against Brown but winning their next three meets by an average of 60 points.
"The women's team wins because they work their butts off," head coach Mike Schnur said. "Not much has changed [since the loss to Brown] -- our women train so hard that they know they're going to win at the end."
Winning eight of the 16 events and with 23 combined second- or third-place finishes, the women's team's fitness and depth was on full display at Lejeune Hall. In the individual events, five different swimmers had first-place finishes, with junior Margot Newcomer and freshman Sara Aiello both winning two events.
"It might be close in the beginning. But, in the end, we'll come back," Schnur said of his team. "The win over Yale [last weekend] gave the girls a lot of confidence."
It was the first time the Quakers had beat the Bulldogs in 13 years.
The men, on the other hand, ran into a buzzsaw against Navy, which features the top-ranked mid-major program in the nation, according to Collegeswimming.com. The Midshipmen feature two seniors -- Mike Linn and Joe Smutz -- who were named as Honorable Mention All-Americans in 2004.
"Navy just swam a much better meet than us today," Schnur said. "They haven't beaten us in three years, but they were ready for us today and deserved to win."
Senior Matt Blaszko led the way for the Quakers, winning the 800-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle events, two of the Red and Blue's five wins of the day.
The teams next host West Chester on Friday. It will be Penn's first home meet since Dec. 10 and its last before the ECAC and Ivy League Championships.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.