This year's women's swim meet against Navy was almost a carbon copy of last year's contest. The teams were evenly matched, the outcome was determined by the same race and the final score was relatively similar.
But this time, a different team found itself on the winning end.
Last season, Penn held a mere one-point lead over Navy going into the final event. The Quakers won the 400 free relay and left with a 155-145 victory, their eighth straight over the Midshipmen.
It was almost the same story this weekend. Penn went into the same race with another lead, but unlike last year, Navy won by five-hundredths of a second to secure a victory for the Midshipmen. The final score was 151-149.
"Navy won the meet by the slimmest margin you can imagine," said Penn coach Mike Schnur.
Captain Sarah Bargmann added that they "swam very well, so to lose like that was very upsetting."
Schnur said the meet was "very close all the way," but it also illustrated each school's strengths. Navy won all the freestyle races while Penn was victorious in all the stroke races, except for the 100 yard butterfly.
Led by freshman Kelby Zimmerman in the 100 breaststroke, Penn claimed the top three spots. Zimmerman also won the 200 breast.
In her usual fashion, sophomore Sara Coenen won both the 100 and 200 backstrokes.
Sophomore Stephanie Nerby beat her opponent, Kelly Zahalka, by two seconds in the 200 butterfly. But her time in the 100 fly, 1:04.99, was just five-hundredths of a second short of Zahalka's time.
Penn's divers also recovered from a bad meet against Yale last weekend. In three-meter diving, the Quakers placed two girls in the top three.
"Navy's diver Katie Griffin is NCAA-level, one of the best in the East Coast," Schnur said. "Our divers battled all the way. Especially considering they're all freshmen and sophomores."
Meanwhile, Navy's freestyle group is led by their star sprinter, Thuy-Mi Dinh, who swept both the 50 and 100 frees.
"She is better than everyone in the Patriot League and the Ivy League," said Schnur. "We will not see a sprinter who can beat her."
The Midshipmen also boast a "great distance girl" in Tara Chapmon, according to Schnur. Chapmon won both the 400 and 800 frees, and also finished second to Coenen in the 200 back.
On the men's side, the score was more lopsided with the Quakers losing 164.5 to 116.5.
"We kept doing what we've been doing. We just ran into a team that's awfully good," said Schnur. "Navy's the best team we've faced this year."
Although all men's meets raced at Navy are in meters - not the usual yards - Schnur says it did not pose difficulties for his men.
According to Schnur, the Midshipmen had two or three strong swimmers in every event. They took a commanding lead as soon as the meet started, winning the first eight events and 13 of 16 overall.
Penn's swimmers were certainly no match for the Midshipmen's Adam Meyer. He ended the day with a swimmer's hat trick, finishing first in all three of his individual events. Not only did he win by more than four seconds over his closest opponent in the 200 IM and 200 butterfly, he also swam 12 seconds faster than any Penn finisher in the 200 breaststroke.
The 800 free was also an ugly race for the Red and Blue, with the Midshipmen taking the top four spots. Penn's John Benigno finished in fifth, 30 seconds after Navy's Erik Hunter's time of 8:19.52.
However, not everything was so disastrous for Schnur. He says that his team swam the fastest meet in Annapolis, MD he's ever seen, even if it wasn't fast enough to beat Navy.
And, while the meet started poorly, it ended on a high note for the Red and Blue, with a victory in the last event, the 200 meter relay.
"It was nice to see us end . with some pride. We crushed Navy and are setting ourselves up to be contenders in Eastern Championships," said Schnur.
