After narrowly defeating Richmond in a five-point win last weekend at Sheerr Pool, the Penn women's swimming team enters this weekend's Ivy League tri-meet with Cornell and nationally-ranked Princeton looking to add to last weekend's success.
"We trained really hard this week," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "All I'm looking for is to keep doing what they did last week -- to keep racing."
The Tigers won the Ivy crown last year and look to continue their domination this season. They not only feature Ivy League 100-yard backstroke record holder Kate Conroy, but the entire Princeton lineup boasts depth and talent in every event.
"Tomorrow we're looking to battle Princeton," Penn sophomore butterflyer Rachel Zappalorti said. "We definitely want to give them a good scare."
The overall strength of the Tigers will be tough to overcome, but Penn's individual leaders in the sprint freestyle events should provide close races.
One of the major strengths of all three teams rests in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Last year at the Ivy League Championships, the three teams consumed six of the top 12 finishes in the 100 breaststroke.
"There should be some really good races in breaststroke this weekend," Schnur said.
In last year's duel meet, Penn dominated the Big Red in a 185-115 drubbing. This year should bring similar results.
"We definitely should be able to beat Cornell," Penn sophomore Kathleen Holthaus said.
In contrast to last week's non-league meet, Saturday will feature one of Penn's strengths, the 400 individual medley.
After a week of hard practices, the Quakers are ready to thrust themselves into the heart of their season.
The defending Ivy League champion Tigers seem to be a pretty good place to start.
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