Although they're both finished with league play, the Penn swim teams both face one last challenge before the conference championship meets when they travel to Division II West Chester today.
For the Penn men's team (6-7), the focus will be on the races between local swimmers - including the ones between Penn junior Pat Gallagher and West Chester junior Bill Marcum.
"I had a friendly rivalry in high school [with Marcum]," Gallagher, a native Philadelphian, said. "I'm excited to race him again."
Another local swimmer on the Golden Rams is sophomore Matt Golebiewski. Any race against him will be hard for the Quakers, since Golebiewski is one of best swimmers they'll face all year, according to coach Mike Schnur. In fact, Maryland originally gave a scholarship to Marcum, who only recently transferred to West Chester.
The Penn women (11-4) will also face one of its toughest opposing individuals.
West Chester junior Kathrin Dumitru, a native of Germany, swam for her country in the 1996 Olympics, placing 26 in the 100-meter breaststroke and 29 in the 200m breaststroke.
For the Quakers, swimming against a former Olympian is daunting but exciting.
"I think the fact that they have a former Olympian on the team will be inspiring and motivating for our team," senior tri-captain Stephanie Colson said. "I also think that we can still possibly beat her in her events which would also be very exciting."
Of course, swimming meets are not decided just by a single swimmer. However, both Golden Ram teams are strong overall.
"Their men's team is very good," Schnur said. "They're probably one of the top two or three teams in D-II. Our guys have seen West Chester's results all year long, so they know how fast [West Chester is] ... I would say - on paper going in - that we're underdogs."
On the women's side, while Penn is the better team, the meet should be close.
"I would say our women are favorites -- but not by a lot," Schnur said. "Hopefully our women won't have a let down after the Navy [win last week] and look past this meet" to the Ivy League Championship.
Fortunately for both teams, history is on their side. In the last two years, each of them are 2-0 versus West Chester, with an average margin of 63.5 points for the men and 58 for the women.
Tthe timing of this meet will also inspire the Quakers - it's the last dual meet of the year.
Because it's the last meet of the year, "we really want to win, especially considering we've never lost to them," cenior Captain Brandon Thompson said. "We certainly don't want to lose to a team that looks like Division-I dropouts."
At the same time - because there is still the Ivy League championship meet in mid-February - the swimmers aren't overhyping today's meet.
"[Today] is still a big deal since it is the last dual meet, but it doesn't really seem like the end yet because there are still two more weeks left in the season," Colson said.
Of course, it's also the last time they'll face an Olympian or an ex-ACC swimmer.
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