It was a tale of two meets for the Penn swimming and diving teams this weekend.
On Saturday, in front of a packed house at the Sheerr Pool, both the men’s and women’s teams soundly defeated Brown. But on Sunday, the women’s team fell to Harvard in a lopsided loss.
For the men, Saturday’s competition was full of success. The Quakers beat Brown, 179-116. It was clear that Penn was enjoying its return to Sheerr.
“It really was just fantastic,” junior Alex Elias said. “We don’t always get the opportunity to swim in such an amazing atmosphere. We just went out there and killed it.”
Freshman diver Jack Stein finished first in both the three- and one-meter dives, while senior Will Hartje finished second and third in the two events. This duo was responsible for 25 of Penn’s 179 team points.
In the 200-yard medley relay, freshman Philip Hu, sophomore Kyle Yu, senior Rhoads Worster and sophomore Eric Schultz broke the Sheerr pool record for the event. The men finished within 1:29.94, narrowly eclipsing the previous mark of 1:30.09.
However, the Quakers weren’t done setting records on Saturday.
Along with Worster and Schultz, juniors Alex Porter and Dillon McHugh broke the Sheerr Pool record for the 400 free relay with a time of 3:01.13.
With its victory over Brown on Saturday, the women’s side also generated wins from its key swimmers en route to a 172-126 win.
Senior Shelby Fortin won the 1000 free with a time of 10:10.14. She also claimed first place in the 100 free, touching the wall in 52.00 seconds.
The Red and Blue also claimed the top three spots in both the 100 back and the 200 backstroke. Leading the way for Penn was sophomore Lauren Church, who finished first in both events.
Church was also part of the 200 medley relay team. Along with junior Lauryn Brown and freshmen Haley Wickham and Rochelle Dong, Church’s team took first place, finishing in 1:44.58.
“I thought we put in a great race on Saturday,” coach Schnur said. “We were just coming off two really great efforts against Dartmouth and Yale, and I think we carried that into the race against Brown.
“I think we responded really well to a very competitive team.”
However, the women’s squad did not fare as well in Sunday’s contest against Harvard.
Because Sunday marked its second consecutive day of competition against an Ivy League opponent, Penn chose to reshuffle its lineup and rest some prominent swimmers. Against this different lineup, Harvard jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, winning the meet, 201-95.
Harvard claimed first place in the meet’s first 13 events. Penn’s dry spell was broken by Dong when she claimed a victory in the 100 meter butterfly.
Penn would later claim one more victory in the 400 freestyle relay, as the team of Fortin, Church, Dong and Hurley rounded out their race in 3:32.08.
However, the Quakers still remained positive about their work over the weekend.
“Saturday was the main focus of our weekend,” Fortin said. “The races against Harvard were opportunities to get some girls into the pool who haven’t gotten an opportunity to race.
“We saw it more as a practice swim, and just a chance for us to get better.”
The Quakers will now attempt to recuperate after two weeks of Ivy competition, and will return to the pool on January 31 for back-to-back meets against West Chester and La Salle.
“If we just keep doing what we have been doing, then we are going to be in great shape,” Schnur said. “We’ve got some tough meets ahead of us, but I think we will be in a position to do some great things.”
SEE ALSO
Penn swimming preps for Harvard
More records fall for Penn swimming at Total Performance Invitational
Swimming begin crucial month with Total Performance Invitational
Penn swimming travels to New York to take on Ivy rivals
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