It may be early in the season, but it’s already clear that Penn’s women swimmers are ready to battle.
On Friday, the women took on Columbia in each team’s third Ivy matchup of the year. Despite an energetic performance from Penn (2-2, 1-2 Ivy), Columbia (1-2, 1-2) pulled away at the end and handed the Quakers a 159-140 loss.
Junior Shelby Fortin was once again the standout swimmer for Penn, accumulating a total of three individual wins, as well as taking part in a record-breaking relay. Among her victories were the 200-yard backstroke and 500 freestyle, despite getting very little rest in between these races.
“The two races she swam, the 200 back and 500 free, with two minutes of rest, was unbelievable,” coach Mike Schnur said. “She’s amazing.”
In addition to winning these individual events, Fortin also swam one of the legs of the 200 freestyle relay contributing to a new Sheerr Pool record with a time of 1:35.58. Freshmen Dayae Choi and Emily Baturka and sophomore Christina Hurley also took part in the record-setting performance.
“Going into the last event, we knew we were a little bit behind, so we just said let’s go out there and have fun,” Fortin said. “If we’re not going to win, we might as well end on a good note.”
Coming off a first-place finish at the Total Performance Invitational in Ohio, the Quakers’ women did not seem to be suffering from a lack of energy on Friday.
“I think we were all riled up,” sophomore Taylor Sneed said. “Columbia is one of our biggest rivals in the league and we were all just going off of the fast swims that everyone was having, so when you have that energy, it just kind of motivates everyone.”
“They wanted to battle tonight,” Schnur added. “We talked about it all week. No excuses. I didn’t care how tired they were, I didn’t care how many exams they had because Columbia was in the same position.”
The Quakers will view the loss as a prime learning opportunity.
“What they need to improve on is just keep training,” said Schnur. “Every day they get better in work out.”
In the meantime, count on the Red and Blue’s team spirit to make the women swim even faster.
“The upperclassmen do such a good job of bringing the freshmen and sophomore together,” Sneed said. “I think it’s a really great team.”
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