A little friendly competition never hurt anyone. In fact, it may even have helped the Penn women's swimming team this past weekend.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay of the Quakers' tri-meet on Friday against Cornell and Princeton, coach Mike Schnur initiated a competition between the freshman class and their upperclassman teammates.
"Our girls have been talking trash about each other all season about who is better, our upperclassman or our freshman relay," he said. "This was our first opportunity to settle all the questions."
Although the Quakers ended up losing to the Ivy favorite Tigers, 175-117, while beating the Big Red, 125.5-94.5, the 200 relay was the highlight of the day.
The freshman team of Felicia Leksono, Laura Klick, Kristen Degrazia and Jennifer Claydon won with the time of 1:38:22. Not far behind them, in second place, was the upperclassman team of Andrea Balint, Amy Reams, Lauren Brandes, and Meghan Barron, clocking in at 1:38:75.
"It was the first time that we stopped thinking about racing Princeton," Laura Klick said. "And that's when our team was able to do the best."
Klick tallied another impressive finish for the Quakers, placing third in the 200-yard breaststroke, behind teammate Kerry Gruendel.
"She has really set herself up . to be an Ivy champion," Schnur said. "That's pretty great for a freshman."
The Tigers' Megan Waters was in a league of her own in the water on Friday. Her 50-yard freestyle time - 23.57 - was faster than the Penn record. Both Balint and Reams finished third and fourth in the event with times of 24.74 and 24.80, respectively.
"It is certainly no disgrace for our women to lose to somebody of her caliber," Schnur said.
The Big Red's lone bright spot was Heather Miller, one of 14 freshmen on the roster. She pulled out the squad's lone first place finish, winning the 200-yard backstroke. Miller edged the Tigers' Mary Killian and the Quakers' Ainsley Cookingham with a time of 2:07:78.
"They are a lot more competitive this year than last year and even the year before that," Schnur said of the Big Red. "All the numbers they bring in are certainly helping them."
