Saturday was a day of firsts for Penn men’s swimming.
Crushing both Yale (170-130) and Dartmouth (249-51) in their last Ivy dual meet of the season, the Quakers (4-3, 4-3 Ivy) finished Ivy competition with a winning record in the league, something the team has not accomplished since the 2002-2003 season.
Coach Mike Schnur also garnered his first win over the Bulldogs as head coach. The Quakers last beat Yale (3-3, 1-3) when Schnur was an assistant coach in 1992.
Schnur largely attributes the victory to the leadership and enthusiasm of his senior class.
“They were determined to win that meet,” he said. “They got the other guys into it and kept everyone fired up all day.”
The underclassmen definitely responded to the encouragement.
Of the 16 events, the Quakers won eight, including sophomore Brendan McHugh’s top finishes in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke (with times of 56.76 and 2:04.27, respectively), as well as the 200-yard individual medley (1:54.54). McHugh’s time in the 200 breast also set a new record at Sheerr Pool.
In the 50-yard freestyle senior Kyle Loughran took first, with a time of 21.02. Sophomore Brett Gomes finished in second (21.07), and classmate Peter Amos followed in fourth (21.48).
“For us to go second and fourth turned the momentum of the meet,” said Schnur.
Loughran wasn’t the only senior who had an impressive day.
He was joined by classmates Brad Farris, Chris Buck and James Fee, who won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:06.79. Loughran also won the 100 freestyle (46:02) by three hundredths of a second.
Fee performed well all around, placing first in both the 200 freestyle (1:40.57) and 500 freestyle (4:33.51).
According to Schnur, Saturday’s dual meet was the best of Fee’s Penn career, with the senior posting his best times outside of championship meets.
“I went even faster than I thought,” Fee said. “There was an extra bit of motivation, it being our last Ivy League meet.”
With the Ivy season behind them, the Quakers still have two nonconference meets on their schedule and will soon begin training for championships.
Fee is confident in his team’s ability to perform well when that time comes.
“It sets us up for pretty high expectations going into championships,” Fee said. “It’s going to be tough but we showed at this meet we definitely have a chance.”
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