Swimmers win despite off day

It would have been easy for the Penn women's swimming team to overlook West Chester on Friday night -- it was the team's final meet before the Ivy League Championships begin on Feb. 23, after all. But the Quakers remained focused, comfortably beating the visiting Golden Rams 151-92.

The men -- who still have one dual meet before their postseason -- won their meet 145-77.

Capping off a stellar second half of the season, the women pushed their winning streak to four meets and gave themselves momentum going into the year-end championships. The Quakers' only defeat after coming back from their annual winter break training trip was a tough three-point loss to Brown on Jan. 14, a loss that the team still remembers.

"I don't let them forget that one," head coach Mike Schnur said. "We want our revenge on Brown and Columbia. We want to beat them when it counts."

But despite Friday's win, Schnur said after the meet that the team did not perform up to its ability against West Chester. He attributed this to the increase in sprint work that the team did during the week, a normal training method before tapering into the championships.

"We actually didn't swim very well tonight. West Chester won seven individual events out of nine," Schnur said. "We were just tired and not as up for it."

Junior Jessica Aiello, who swam the 400-yard medley relay, the 50-yard freestyle and the 400-yard freestyle relay, also cited fatigue as a factor in the team's performance.

"As a sprinter, I'm not going to swim my fastest until I rest," said Aiello, who still posted a season-best 24.99 in the 50-yard freestyle to take second in that event.

Junior Cammie Villarreal, who placed second in both the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke races, agreed.

"We trained really hard this past week and it really showed in some of the races," Villarreal said. "But it's just part of the training. At this point in the year, we're just antsy to get to the Ivies and compete."

The men's team, on the other hand, has been swimming better in each meet since the training trip, according to Schnur.

"We did nothing differently this week than we did last week," Schnur said, referring to the men's loss at Navy. "But as they get further away from the Florida trip, they're less tired."

The Quakers started the night strong and never let up, taking the top two spots in the 400-yard medley relay to secure 15 points to open the meet, and winning five of the last seven events.

The level of emotion was also higher than usual for seniors, who were competing at Sheerr Pool as Penn swimmers for the last time.

"It's so sad around this time of year, thinking about next year without the seniors," Villarreal said. "We wanted to go out with a bang for them because they've given so much for us."

The men's team will travel to Cambridge, Mass., this coming Saturday to take on Harvard in the final meet before the ECAC Championships, while the women are off until the Ivy League Championships.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.