To say that the Penn men's swimming team took the cake at the Jan. 3 Florida Atlantic Invitational would be an understatement.
The men placed first with a score of 830.5, defeating Ivy League rival Brown by a margin of 264.5 points in a league-sanctioned dual meet. Ousting the other competitors, which included ACC powerhouse Maryland, FAU, North Texas and Illinois State, was just the icing on the cake.
"We were really amped up to beat Brown because that was the focus of the meet," junior freestyler James Fee said. "And a by-product of that was beating everyone else."
After a December full of finals and breaks, the Quakers reunited in the Sunshine State for their winter training trip with three-a-day practices.
Senior captain Chaz Maul was finally able to practice after coming off of a broken hand that sidelined him all of first semester. His return was instantly gratifying as he finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 56.69 seconds.
"He's been a big part of our breaststroke all of his four years and we definitely missed him for our first three meets," coach Mike Schnur said.
Maul's teammates Fee and Kyle Loughran also led in the lanes. Fee touched the wall first in both the 500- and 200-yard freestyle events, while Loughran had a first-place finish of his own in the 100-yard freestyle.
But as with every training trip, exhaustion eventually overtook the Quakers. Following outdoor practices in Florida, Penn made the long trip to Boston to face another league foe, Harvard, on Jan. 10.
Ranked first in the Ivy League and No. 22 in the nation, Harvard outswam the Quakers by a score of 213-85. The Crimson's Bill Jones raked in three first-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly, and the 200-yard medley relay.
"We were tired before we even walked in the door," Schnur said, "It didn't help that we were racing one of the best teams in the country."
The Quakers (1-3) failed to place in the top three in many crucial events, including the 100-yard backstroke, the 200-yard butterfly, and the 100-yard freestyle.
"They saw our results so far this year and saw that we were a much better team and they needed to take us seriously," Schnur said. "And they did. They were a lot faster than we were."
The Quakers did claim first in the 500-yard freestyle thanks to freshman Cameron Hood. Fee placed third behind Hood, who beat out Harvard's Blake Lewkowitz for the victory.
The meet ended on a sour note, however, when the Quakers' 100-yard freestyle relay team was disqualified for a false start. But, by this time, Harvard was the clear victor.
"Better do it now than when the meet is on the line," Schnur said.
