Most Penn teams circle their first matchups with Princeton on their calendars. The men’s swimming team did the same thing — but for a very different reason. In tonight’s meet in Princeton, N.J., the Quakers have their eyes on Cornell.
“We’re more focused on Cornell because they are our big big rival,” sophomore Brendan McHugh said.
But for McHugh, another rivalry awaits him in New Jersey. He will swim against his archrival, Princeton’s Jon Christensen, in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke.
McHugh and Christensen split the Ivy titles in those two events last year and McHugh has the results from the loss in the 200 taped to his locker for inspiration.
Overall, Princeton — the reigning Ivy League champs — will be a formidable challenge.
According to Penn coach Mike Schnur, in order to beat the Tigers, it will take “an awful lot of people going faster than they have ever gone in their lives.”
One of the reasons Schnur thinks that Princeton will be difficult to beat is “home pool advantage.” The Tigers have not lost at DeNunzio Pool since 1991.
However, senior captain Kyle Loughran thinks that the loss of a lot of key seniors for Princeton and a strong freshman class for Penn (1-0, 1-0 Ivy) means that a Red and Blue victory may not be impossible.
The freshmen will be particularly important in the distance relays, as they have several strong recruits in an area in which Cornell is especially weak.
Schnur wants to get even more rookies involved this week.
“It will be more [freshmen] than just our distance guys,” he said.
Despite the presence of so many prominent freshmen, team chemistry has not suffered.
“These guys have been making my job easy,” Loughran, said. “These guys know what they need to do to prepare for meets.”
Preparing this week has involved working on a lot more technical details than endurance, focusing specifically on relay starts and turns.
And they haven’t forgotten about the mind game.
“There will be some strategic moves by [Schnur], a little trickery,” McHugh said.
These strategies should make a difference in what McHugh says will likely be the team’s “closest meet of the year.”
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