Coenen cruises in Ivy Championships

It looks like no one can stop Sara Coenen.

After going undefeated in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke in league competition this season, Penn's star sophomore won both titles at the Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.

The Quakers (7-5, 4-3 Ivy) finished fifth overall, but they broke seven school records in the process.

Coenen's 200 back winning time of 1:58.07 set both a new school and Ivy Championship meet record. Her time also met the NCAA B-cut standard, and she will find out in the coming days if she is going to NCAA Championships. Coenen also set a school record in the 100 back.

"The place we got didn't represent how well we did," said senior captain Megan Carlin.

Coach Mike Schnur, who was not too bothered by the fifth place finish, said the team far exceeded his expectations.

"It was the fastest team I've ever coached," he said, although his 2002-2003 squad finished with 10 wins and scored the most points in program history at Ivy Championships.

While Princeton and Harvard fought for first and second place, Schnur said Penn had a "three-day knockout" with Columbia and Yale. With only two events to go on the last day of the meet, Penn found itself in third place. But the Quakers were overtaken, finishing with 959.5 points, behind the Bulldogs' 986 and the Lions' 1,016.

Princeton dominated its way to a three-peat -and its eighth championship in nine years - scoring 1651.5 points.

Sophomores scored the bulk of the Quakers' points. Coenen alone brought in 87. Amy Reams finished fifth in the 50 free final and sixth in the 100 free final. Stephanie Nerby set a new school record in the 500 free final.

With such a young team on his hands, Schnur was also counting on the newest Quakers to step up and perform.

"The whole freshman crew did very well, great jumping off point for their future," said Schnur.

Even injury could not derail freshman Naomi Delphin, who threw her back out on the first day of competition. In the 200 fly on Sunday, Delphin set yet another school record while finishing sixth.

Junior Lauren Bergstrom, who did not even make it onto last year's Ivy team, fought through terrible nose bleeds to finish eighth in the 200 free final.

Penn's relay team closed out the last day of competition by beating every team but Harvard and Princeton in the 400 free relay.

Schnur used the women's performance to motivate his men's team in its upcoming championship meet.

"I kidded my men's team in practice about how they have a lot of to live up to," he said. "That's how special the women were."

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