For the men's swimming team, the last race capped off the most exciting meet of the year. For the women, it was yet another exclamation point during the most successful season in school history.
The women cruised to victory over host West Chester Friday night with a score of 182-113. The victory was Penn's 12th of the season, the most ever for the team - the Quakers (12-4, 4-3 Ivy) have never won more than 10 dual meets in a season.
The men, on the other hand, took part in a back-and-forth affair that was not decided until the very last race. The Quakers edged out the Golden Rams in the 400-yard freestyle relay by .15 seconds to secure a 156-144 win.
"It's a lot of fun when meets end like that, especially when you win them," senior Pat Gallagher said.
The meet did not start off as well as it ended for the Quakers (8-6, 2-6 EISL), as their opponents took the meet's first three races. Penn's Larkin MacDonald and Chris Weitekamp took the top two places in the 100-yard backstroke to break West Chester's streak.
The Golden Rams held onto a slim lead as the teams traded blows in several tight races. Penn's Joe Griffith defeated West Chester's Joerg Zimmermann by .11 seconds in the 200-yard butterfly, while West Chester's Matt Golebiewski beat out Gallagher in the 200 freestyle.
The meet's turning point came in its most highly contested race, the 100 freestyle. In a race where all six swimmers were separated by less than a half second, Penn's Devon Carr, Gallagher and Kyle Loughran took the top three places.
"They all came up big when the meet was on the line and when they were under a lot of pressure," Gallagher said of his teammates.
Thanks to that slim victory and wins by MacDonald in the 200-yard backstroke and Aaron Levy in the 3-meter diving, Penn held a tenuous 143-140 lead going into the meet's final race. The 400-yard freestyle relay showdown featured all six swimmers from the exhilarating 100-freestyle event.
"We knew that free relay would be competitive and it would come down to basically who their fourth guy was against ours," Penn coach Mike Schnur said.
Weitekamp, the "fourth guy" for the Quakers, helped Carr, Gallagher and Loughran earn the narrow win, beating the Golden Rams 3:06.66 to 3:06.81.
"We swam probably our toughest meet of the semester," Schnur said. "We had some guys really step up."
For the women, Penn easily overcame the German former Olympian, Kathrin Dumitru - who won the meet's 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes and the 200-yard individual medley - with its overall depth.
Victories for the Quakers included Ainsley Cookingham in the 200 backstroke, Hayley Wolfgruber in the 100 freestyle and Lauren Brandes in the 50 freestyle.
"They're swimming very well at this point, and we knew we were too deep for West Chester," Schnur said.
The victory capped off what was truly a historic season for the team.
"It's really exciting because we have accomplished something that no other team has ever done," senior Margot Newcomer said. "That's pretty awesome."
All that remains on the schedules for both teams in the Ivy League Championship meets. The men's victory should bring them some momentum going into the big meet. And if Friday's win was any indication, the women seem poised to make even more history.
