For the women's swim team, the final score of this weekend's meet against Yale does not tell the whole story.
Although the Quakers fell to the Bulldogs 186-114, coach Mike Schnur was more than pleased with the results, calling it the "best meet of the year by far." They also easily defeated Dartmouth 210-90.
"The women swam fabulously," Schnur said. "[Against Yale] we were touched out a lot, sometimes by only one-tenths of a second."
Those one-tenths of a second, when added up, made a difference in the outcome of the meet.
In the 200 free, sophomore Andrea Balint fell short of first place by just that much, losing out to the Bulldogs' Annie Killian. Balint had a good day overall, taking the top spot in the 100 free and 200 IM.
It was the same story in 1000 free, which freshman Naomi Delphin swam in 10:14:91, a school record for a non-championship meet. But that still was not good enough to best Yale's Brittany Iacouzze, who finished in 10:14:80.
"The freshmen are settling into a big role on the team," said captain Katherine Donohue.
Sophomore Sara Coenen also remained undefeated for her career in backstroke races, winning both the 100 and 200 back.
As for Schnur's men, they performed as he expected. The team out-swam Dartmouth 208-87 and lost to Yale 217-79.
"We beat up on Dartmouth, and Yale beat up on us," Schnur remarked.
But despite the men's lopsided score against Yale, Schnur said that his team was "in every race with Yale."
"There were no races where they demolished us, except for the [200] backstroke," he said. In that race, Penn's top-finisher was sophomore Larkin MacDonald, at fifth.
The Red and Blue's distance swimmers performed well. Sophomore James Fee placed second in the 1000 free and grabbed the top spot in the 500 free. Freshman Alex Kalish also swam a strong 500 free after what Schnur called a "bad" 1000.
But, as they feared, the Quakers were unable to stop Yale's stars. Alex Righi, who was on the U.S. National Team for the Pan-American games last year, won both the 50 and 100 freestyle. Another one of Yale's top swimmers, Chris Pool, finished first in both the 100 and 200 butterfly.
"Pool had an unbelievable meet. Our guys were nowhere near him," said Schnur.
For Dartmouth, it was another long day in the midst of a long season. The two Big Green teams are a combined 3-15, including 0-11 in Ivy play.
With just two meets left for the women, and three for the men, before Ivy Championships, Schnur believes that both Quakers' teams are where they should be.
"You have to train through some of these meets to get to the end of the year," Schnur said, referring to the men. "A lot of people are ready to swim fast, but just not right now.
"The women are swimming very close to their capabilities right now," he added. "I don't see a single event where we need improvement."
