The drought is finally over. The Penn men's swim team captured its first win against Columbia after five straight years of losses to its Ivy rivals from New York.
The Red and Blue defeated the Lions 185-114 at Sheerr Pool this past Saturday.
"It was a nice win, but more important than winning, it was seeing how fast the men can swim," coach Mike Schnur said. "They were able to hold the level they swam at the Kenyon Invitational, and in some cases, the guys got even faster."
The Quakers won 11 out of 15 events, with all-around strong performances from everyone.
Sophomore James Fee defeated Columbia's best swimmer, Hyun Lee, in the 500 and 1000 yard freestyle.
"Beating [Lee] was quite an accomplishment," said Fee. "And racing like that is fun because he's a great competitor."
Fee won the 1000 free with a time of 9:17.03, now the fastest time in school history, breaking his previous school record by four-and-a-half seconds.
"What set the tone for our men was James. He stomped [Lee] in the last 200 yards of the 1000," said Schnur. "It bolstered the spirits of our guys and took away life from the Columbia guys."
Another highlight for the Quakers was their victory in the 200 free relay. Their time of 1:22.55 set a pool record.
"It's very gratifying to break a record in your own pool, said Schnur. "Sheerr is a 40-year-old pool so it's seen a lot of records set here."
The Penn women did not fare nearly as well, falling to the Lions 184-114.
"Our women swam tough but we were nowhere as prepared as Columbia was," said Schnur. "Columbia rested two weeks and our women had no rest."
After Penn defeated Columbia by a 75-point margin last year, the Lions came out with a vengeance, swimming significantly better than they had all year.
In the 1000 yard freestyle, for example, Columbia's Megan Brown took the event in a time of 10:19.10, over ten seconds better than her season average.
One Penn swimmer who performed up to par was sophomore Sara Coenen, who has lost just one backstroke race in her career. Against Columbia, she won both the 100 and 200 backstroke.
"It's great to know we're always going to win the backstroke," said Schnur.
While the women struggled, the men made their mark on the competition.
"We came in with a lot more confidence . and I think the scored showed that," said Fee. "It sends a pretty clear message that we're a different team than in the past."
