With the bulkhead that divides Sheerr Pool broken and stuck underwater for at least a month, members of the men's swimming team will be forced to practice in a tiring long-course style: good for the long run, bad for the near future.
"They'll kick butt, but right now, they will be a little tired," coach Mike Schnur said.
With an Ivy League dual meet against Princeton and Cornell at noon tomorrow in Princeton, N.J., fatigue is not an option for the Quakers.
The Tigers are ranked No. 2 among Division I Mid Major schools and favored to win the Ivy League this season. Both the Quakers and the Big Red are in the hunt for a third-place league finish.
"It's a nice meet to gauge where we stack up against Cornell," junior freestyler Kyle Loughran said.
The Big Red lost to No. 1 Harvard last week by only 16 points, perhaps due to the strength of their freshman class. Recently, Cornell has been successful hauling in recruits from north of the border.
"Cornell has a pipeline out of Canada for seven or eight years," Schnur said. "They do a great job of recruiting international kids that the rest of us don't seem to be doing."
One strong Canadian is Big Red freshman breaststroker Michael Cai, who made an impressive debut in both the 100 and 200 meter.
Asked if Penn has a breaststroker who can compete with Cai, Schnur said, "We'll find out on Saturday."
A more formidable force, however, is Princeton's Doug Lennox, who swam for Puerto Rico in the 2008 Olympics. Lennox is extremely versatile, as he'll be swimming in the 100m free, 100m back and two relays this weekend. He will not compete in the IM, even though his time at last week's Rutgers' Invitational was within the top five in the country.
Loughran has the task of facing Lennox in the 100m free.
"I'll just do the best I can," Loughran said. "It's a great opportunity. It's not every day you get to race against an Olympian.
The Quakers will also turn to diver Jeff Cragg, who, according to Schnur, was the team's greatest asset during last week's meet against Columbia.
"Watching him the first week, he's the best diver we've seen in 30 years, since his dad," Schnur said.
Cragg's father Robert competed in the men's springboard event for the United States at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.
His son should be able to beat all of the Cornell divers, but Princeton is another story, as the Tigers have two of the league's top divers on their roster.
So although the long course will be beneficial later in the season, the Quakers will have their hands full tomorrow.
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