Predictably, M. Swimming splits meets

Before it even started, the Penn men's swimming team knew the outcome of last weekend's meet against Dartmouth and Yale. No, the Red and Blue are not psychic -- they're just realistic. Going in, Penn knew that Dartmouth would be beatable. Yale, on the other hand, probably wasn't. The Quakers (7-3) swam to form on Saturday, as they topped the Big Green, 177-99, and fell to the Elis, 200-96. "Yale's a much better team than we are," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "By beating Dartmouth, we guaranteed ourselves a winning record this season, which is still a very good accomplishment." Within the first few events, it became apparent that the Big Green would pose little challenge to the Quakers. Penn annihilated Dartmouth in nearly every event. The Red and Blue were boosted by strong performances in all events, even though the Quakers were tired and not swimming all their normal events. "This was really a meet with no pressure," Schnur said. "We swam a lot of off-events and we didn't put a lot of emphasis on the meet." Penn senior Sean Perschy highlighted Penn's meet by winning the 50-meter freestyle against Dartmouth. "I've been resting a lot since I'm not going to Easterns," Perschy said. "I've just basically been cutting down on yardage. The Quakers' freshmen also played their part, as Eric Hirschorn swam two solid races in the 200 freestyle and the 200 backstroke. Barry Chan stepped in for a sick Kevin Pope and placed second in the 100 backstroke. "Our freshmen are fast and they help us a lot," Perschy said. "They are more serious about swimming than freshman classes in previous years." Penn sophomore Nate Pinney also impressed. He won both the 200 fly and the 500 freestyle against Dartmouth and took third in both events against Yale. "Nate stepped up and swam very well," Schnur said. "He's setting himself up for a successful end of the season." While last weekend's meet against Yale ended in a loss, the Quakers are optimistic about beating the Elis in the future. For, though the team will admit they knew a win was out of the question last weekend, next year could be a whole different story. "A lot of people are swimming a whole lot better this year than last year," Pinney said. Schnur is excited for the future of the men's swimming program, noting the improvement that has already occurred. "The freshmen and sophomores this year will be as good as Yale in the future," Schnur said. "If you graduate two or three of their best guys and continue quality recruiting here, it's very doable."

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