Before Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken dives into the pool for the 50-yard freestyle, she spits into an opponent's lane to show total superiority over her competition.
Van Dyken knows the 50 free is her event, and her results over the course of her career can back up her words -- or anything else that comes out of her mouth.
While Penn's Linda Fescoe may not spit into other lanes to display her confidence, the sophomore Penn record holder bounds off the blocks knowing during every swim that she too can beat anyone in the 50 free.
"Her focus at meets is amazing, because it never even occurs to her that she could conceivably lose the 50 free," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "She expects to win every time she swims."
Fescoe burst onto the Ivy League scene last December in Penn's upset victory over Harvard. Recording the first sub-24 second 50 free in her life, Fescoe definitively grabbed a spot atop the team record board at the meet and became known as the fastest swimmer in Penn history.
Like track and field's assertion for the 100-meter dash -- usually the shortest sprint in an outdoor meet -- a "fastest swimmer" declaration is awarded to the swimmer who has the best time in the 50 free.
Later, at February's Ivy championships, the Penn freshman blistered through the water in a technologically advanced fast skinsuit to break her own school record with a time of 23.77 seconds.
Fescoe's third-place time in the 2000 New Jersey High School state championships was 24.51 seconds.
Even with the difference between high school and college practice levels, it is still very rare to see such a drastic drop in time from one year to the next in the 50 free.
"Mentally, I think when I have to get something done, I always do," Fescoe said. "I think that's part of sprinting for me."
Fescoe's focus translated to every event she swam for the Quakers last year.
"There are very few people that race as hard as Linda does, who hate to lose as much as she does," Schnur said.
In addition to Fescoe's record-setting performance in the 50 free, the sprint aficionado also teamed with three other Quakers to grab school records in the 200 and 400 medley relays, and the 200 free relay.
After a summer of toning her body, with specific concentration on cardiovascular exercise, Fescoe stands poised to further lower her school record and help the Quakers improve on last year's sixth place Ancient Eight finish.
"I want to stay healthy and do well in all the meets," Fescoe said. "I really want to get top three at Ivies -- my goal is to go 23.4 [in the 50 freestyle]."
While the Ancient Eight championships loom in the distance, this year's December tri-meet with Columbia and Harvard holds particular significance to both the Quakers and Fescoe.
After beating Harvard in the dual meet last year, the Red and Blue now look to unseat the Lions from their customary spot in the Ivy League swimming hierarchy.
Yet the meet holds extra meaning to Fescoe. It will be a rematch with Columbia's Jessica Braun, who touched the wall just barely ahead of Fescoe at last year's Ivy League Championships.
"I'm looking to beat [her] in a dual meet," Fescoe said "I'm really looking forward to getting pumped for that."
As if the Quakers sophomore needs an excuse to get psyched for her favorite event.
Regardless of the person standing next to her on the blocks, Fescoe knows the outcome of the race before it even begins.
It's hard to argue with the results.
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