A statement was made.
At Penn men’s swimming and diving’s season opener in front of many alumni on Homecoming weekend, sophomore backstroke/freestyle specialist Eddie Jin kicked off his career in the Red and Blue to an impressive start — breaking Dean Farris’ pool record in the 200-yard freestyle from 2017. Five other Quakers won individual events, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 166-134 to Columbia.
“[We will] continue getting better, continue the spirit they had on deck today, continue to work hard, and we'll get our wins as the season goes. We'll beat some teams. … [Columbia] brought the best out of us,” coach Mike Schnur said.
Jin joined the Quakers this year as a transfer from North Carolina. He told The Daily Pennsylvanian that he had lost his roster spot at UNC due to the House v. NCAA settlement, and positive conversations with Schnur brought him to Philadelphia.
“I came in [Penn with] very minimal goals. I wanted to swim for the love of it,” Jin said. “Going that time and beating Dean Farris’ record was a complete shock. I was elated, but I just put faith in my training and just put my best foot forward.”
In his time swimming for Harvard, Farris became a 23-time All-American, won 27 career Ivy League titles across 11 individual and 16 relay events, and is a former NCAA record holder in the 200 free.
Many program alumni were in attendance for the team’s season opener, including 2025 Wharton graduate Daniel Gallagher, 2024 Wharton graduate Jason Schreiber, and 2023 College graduate Mark McCrary.
Another newcomer who had a standout debut is freshman butterfly/individual medley specialist Henry Guo. In the 200-yard butterfly, Guo held on through the opening half by staying just behind Columbia freestyle/butterfly specialist Adam Wu. The race came down to the final 50 yards, where Guo and Wu battled stroke for stroke. While Wu ultimately pulled ahead in the remaining 10 yards, Guo powered on and finished second in the 100-yard butterfly and won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:50.43.
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Sophomore breaststroke specialist Watson Nguyen opened the meet with a solid breaststroke leg in the 200 medley relay, helping deliver the Quakers’ first victory. Keeping up the momentum, Nguyen’s strongest showing came a few events later in the 100-yard breast where he led the pack from the start. He turned in 25.42 at the 50-yard mark and touched home with a time of 53.88, almost two seconds ahead of Columbia breaststroke/individual medley specialist Joshua Corn. The time was notably within striking distance of former Penn swimmer Matt Fallon’s pool record of 53.59.
Nguyen also raced in the 200-yard breaststroke, taking fourth in a tight finish — a race that his teammate, junior individual medley specialist Peter Whittington, turned into a highlight.
What made the difference for Whittington was his pullouts — he propelled himself toward the lead with every push off the wall. Whittington held his position at second with a 58.65 split at the halfway mark, right after Columbia breaststroke/freestyle/individual medley specialist Beri Yang. The final 25 yards were down to the wire between Whittington, Yang, and Corn. Still, Whittington pushed in front in the last five yards to claim the win.
“Honestly, I just really wanted to beat Joshua Corn,” Whittington said. “He beat me at Ivies last year, and ever since, I just didn’t want to lose to him.”
While multiple Quakers had impressive individual performances, it wasn’t enough to defeat the Lions, who took home the victory in their season opener.
Columbia diver Joseph Nicol swept both one-meter and three-meter dives, and the Lions’ depth across their roster helped propel them to the win.
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, senior backstroke specialist and senior captain James Curreri emphasized the team’s mentality of approaching the season day by day.
“Just taking it every day, correcting our mistakes, building upon our successes, and just keeping our momentum,” he said. “What we do every day is going to result in what we get at the end. So as long as our day-to-day is good, our final result will be good.”
Penn men’s and women’s swimming and diving will next face off against Brown on Saturday.
