No eight-hour bus rides, no boxed dinners, no hotel rooms. After a season of away meets, the Quakers will finally swim in Sheerr Pool.
Tomorrow at noon, Penn will host its only home meet of the season, welcoming Rider and Navy.
"It's awesome to have spectators because they'll definitely keep the mental focus, and I'm excited to race," freshman freestyler Cameron Hood said.
This will be Hood's first home meet, something coach Mike Schnur calls a "unique experience" for the freshmen.
Even though the Quakers look forward to swimming in familiar water, various illnesses and injuries have brought the 25-man team down to a slim 18.
"At this point, I'm just trying to piece together a lineup of living human beings," Schnur said.
John Benigno has mono, Robert Shilton has a sprained medial cruciate ligament and Andrew Kaminski finished practice yesterday with an ice pack on his knee, just to name a few.
"My first concern is figuring out a competitive lineup" Schnur said. "We're going to have guys swimming off events just because we don't have a choice."
For instance, freshman breastroker Brendan McHugh will participate in the 200-yard fly, which he has not swum since high school.
"I'm not bad at it, but it's not one of my strengths," McHugh said. "I'll have to see how that goes."
McHugh is also worried about Navy's Adam Meyer, who holds the Patriot League 200 fly record with a time of 1:43.05.
"He's some kid that's going to beat me. He's really fast," McHugh said. "I'll have to step up."
With swimmers like Meyer, Schnur doesn't expect to defeat Navy, which he says is far ahead of its competition right now. He still believes he could score a win against Rider even with many swimmers out of the competition.
"Rider has terrific front-line guys but not enough depth," Schnur said.
This meet will be the last opportunity for the seniors to have a win at home. At the beginning of the meet, the team will hold a ceremony for its graduating teammates Chaz Maul, Rob Casey and Steve Martucci.
And they may even challenge Navy in their final Sheerr Pool meet.
"You never know, maybe we'll step up and swim above our level," Schnur said. "That would be nice."
