Tigers' pool too deep for Penn

Penn men’s swimming faced double trouble this weekend.

In two dual meets in Princeton, N.J., Friday night, the Quakers fell to both the Tigers (193-102) and the Big Red (160.50-137.50).

“Princeton is a lot deeper than we are,” coach Mike Schnur said. “They are just not someone we are ready to beat.

“They have about twenty more guys then we do. They just have good swimmer after good swimmer after good swimmer. We did close the gap on them by a lot this year though. We had some events we really competed in.”

While the Quakers may have never had a chance against the Tigers, it was a different story with the Big Red.

“It was a very close meet,” Schnur said. “Cornell touched us out in a few key races that if they had gone the other way, would have meant the meet for us.”

There were a few bright spots Friday for the Quakers, however, including sophomore Jeff Cragg’s victory in the one-meter diving event and the first place finish by the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quartet of Brendan McHugh, James Fee, Peter Amos and Kyle Loughran finished in 3:07.97.

Fee also performed well in the 500-yard freestyle, placing second with a time of 4:35.79.

Schnur chose not to race McHugh in either breaststroke event, which is his usual specialty, but the sophomore from Sicklerville, N.J., did compete in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle, in which he placed third (1:41.38.)

“Brendan had a phenomenal race,” Schnur said. “It was maybe the fastest unrested 200-yard freestyle we’ve ever had.”

Schnur was also pleased with his backstroke swimmers.

“Matt Krey and Conor Blackwood keep getting better every week,” he said. “Matt is a lot faster than he was last year.”

Blackwood, a freshman, took fifth and eighth in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke, respectively, while sophomore Krey finished fifth in the 100.

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