Swimmers maintain local dominance

The men’s and women’s swimming teams both extended their superiority over neighborly rival La Salle last night.

However, the series success wasn’t the only trend that continued, as many of Penn’s swimmers’ first-place streaks remained intact.

The men crushed La Salle 181.5-113.5, winning 12 of the 14 events, and competed exhibition — receiving no points — for the final two events once the victory was secured. Penn has now won five of its last six meets.

Junior Brendan McHugh again dominated in the water, placing first in the 100-and 200-yard breaststroke.

“McHugh continued his winning way,” coach Mike Schnur said. “He wasn’t very challenged at all.”

McHugh won the 200-yard breaststroke by a margin of almost five seconds and has grabbed a first-place finish in every meet since the tri-meet against Cornell and Princeton in November.

Junior Jeff Cragg helped secure the Quakers’ victory as well, taking the 1-and 3-meter diving events. Cragg — riding a streak of his own — has not lost an event since Dec. 4.

The women also had an impressive night, winning nine events and ultimately securing a 163-131 victory. Like their male counterparts, the women forfeited points for the final two events.

“We had some pretty good wins from some of our usual women,” Schnur said.

One of those usuals, freshman Shelby Fortin, grabbed first place in the 200-and 50-yard freestyle. Fortin has notched a first-place finish in every meet of the season except for the Quakers’ match against Brown.

Two other women won multiple events for the Quakers last night. Fellow freshman Julia Anderson notched first in the 500-and 1000-yard free, while sophomore Melissa Parratto placed first in the 100-and 200-yard butterfly.

Though a consistent performance from key swimmers has appeared to be crucial for the program’s success so far this season, Penn’s depth across the events was the factor that led both teams to easy victories against La Salle.

“We got a lot of seconds and thirds in almost every event,” Schnur said. “La Salle had one very good kid for each event, but their back-ups weren’t at the same level.”

Penn swimmers made up two of the top three finishers in each event in which the Quakers accepted points.

“We have some events where we go four or five women and men deep, and La Salle’s only gonna go one or two deep,” Schnur said.

Despite the success of the program Tuesday night, Schnur still felt that neither team was at its absolute best.

“We swam a lot better on Friday than we did today,” Schnur said.

He attributed yesterday’s performance to the off day the swimmers received on Sunday.

With the dual meet season concluded and ample time to prepare before the Ivy League championships in three weeks, Schnur will keep his team’s momentum going into the final stretch of the season.

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