While the Quakers struggled toward the end of their regular season conference schedule, the squad is both motivated and relaxed heading into the tournament.

It was a tough year for Penn swimming. The men finished next to last in the Ivy League at 1-6 in conference play, while the women finished at 2-5 in Ivy play, good for third-to-last in conference play. But the Quakers’ struggles don’t mean that the bar isn’t high for either side heading into the Ivy League Championships from Feb.

This weekend, the Quakers’ men and women participated in the Cavalier Invitational in Charlottesville, Va., where the men took first place overall and the women placed second out of five teams.

This weekend, both teams are heading down to Virginia for the Cavalier Invitational, while the men’s Ivy team goes up to Cambridge to take on Harvard in their rescheduled snowstorm meet

The men’s team dominated the Explorers with an easy 175-121 win after taking 13 of the first 14 events. Meanwhile, the women held on for a 159-140 victory after winning the last few events.

The men and women will travel to West Chester on Friday and La Salle on Saturday, marking the first meets after a lengthy layoff from competition for both Penn squads.

In Rhode Island, a depleted Penn men’s team (2-5, 1-5 Ivy) was defeated by Brown, 171-129. Meanwhile the women (3-5, 2-5) fell to both Brown, 219-80, and Harvard, 241-58.

This weekend, the women’s swimming team heads to Providence, R.I., for its last conference meet against Harvard and Brown.

The women swam past the Big Green for their third win of the season, 167.5-131.5, but couldn’t get past Yale, falling 176-121. Meanwhile, the men couldn’t get past either opponent, losing to 124-176 to the Bulldogs and 139-161 to Dartmouth.

Saturday, the Quakers will face Dartmouth and Yale in a tri-meet at Sheerr Pool as they enter their first action of the semester.

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.

The Quakers will host the Lions Friday afternoon at Sheerr Pool in their third Ivy League dual meet this season, after competing against Cornell and Princeton last month

This past Thursday through Saturday, the Quakers dominated a field of Kenyon, Carnegie Mellon, Davidson, Findlay and Grove City.

The women’s swim team beat Cornell but fell to Princeton Friday at Sheerr Pool, while the men’s side experienced the same results on Saturday.

When the last swimmer’s hand had touched the wall, both the men’s and women’s teams had asserted their dominance over UConn on Saturday, taking both meets from the Huskies. The victory came on the heels of a tough men’s loss Friday at Columbia.