The Penn men’s swimming team is anxious.
“We’ve been training long enough now the guys are bored just working out,” coach Mike Schnur said. “They are ready to start competing with somebody.”
With the season opener this Friday versus Columbia, the Quakers are already looking ahead to the Eastern Intercollegiate Swim League championship, the final event of the season. They are determined to improve upon last year’s sixth-place finish.
“We finished in sixth place with one senior, who swam one event,” senior freestyler James Fee said. “We have 15 returning spots, in addition to 11 very fast freshmen. We are aiming for a fourth, even a third-place finish, which is definitely doable.”
While the Red and Blue (7-5, 3-4 Ivy last year) may have some very good upperclassmen leaders, Schnur will also be counting on his freshmen to step up and fill in the gaps in the lineup.
Freshmen, especially Stephen Carroll, Ryan Littlefield and Chris Flemming will compose most of the distance freestyle group with sophomore Cameron Hood the only exception. In addition, freshmen Danny Gutnayer, Ryan Carey, Conor Blackwood, Logan Ware and Chris Delafuente will all be expected to contribute early on.
“There are a lot of really good freshmen swimmers that should be key guys in dual meets, Kenyon [Nike Invitational] and Ivy Championships. We are expecting a lot out of these guys.”
Although the Nike Invitational, held at Kenyon College in early December will serve as the true test of the overall team’s progress, the Red and Blue must first tackle the Lions (5-6, 3-4 last year), whom they lost to last year, 170-128.
“They demolished us last year up in New York. We should have a much better opportunity to win this year. They graduated a lot of really good seniors. Most of our top guys did not graduate. So I think we will have closed the gap a lot on them,” Schnur said.
On the diving side, Penn will rely on sophomore Jeff Cragg, who was second team All-Ivy in the three-meter dive last year.
Overall, Fee is confident in his team’s ability to perform this weekend and the rest of the season.
“Last year, we made a lot of big statements with our underclassmen and caught people by surprise,” he said, “so this year they are expecting us to do things. We won’t have that element of surprise, but we are going to deliver. People know.”
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