Quakers split first Ivy League meets

Three years ago the Penn women's swimming team traveled to Princeton to participate in their annual tri-meet with Cornell and the Tigers. The Quakers lost to perennial Ivy-powerhouse Princeton handily -- that was expected.

Since they were in the midst of a 42-meet losing streak between 1994 and 1999, any loss was not too much of a shock. But Penn inched past Cornell for a one-point win in that meet and have not looked back.

Captains Lauren Dawe and Jessica Anders are the only remaining swimmers who were involved in Penn's swimming doldrums. But after the team's 203-95 shellacking of the Big Red and 213-84 loss against Princeton on Saturday, the two swimmers marvel at how far the program has come.

"We knew and they knew that we were going to beat them," Dawe said about Cornell. "It's just funny because now it's no big deal."

Princeton is still in a class of its own in the league, holding a 36-meet winning streak after its most recent victory against Brown on Sunday.

But despite the Tigers' dominance, several Penn swimmers kept events close with the heavy favorites.

"While the score with Princeton was lopsided, in some races we were right up there with them," Anders said. "The fact that we have swimmers that can compete with the best team in the league says something."

Junior transfer Megan Daney highlighted the Quakers' effort, claiming first in the 200 backstroke in 2:04.67. This effort eliminated sophomore Katie Frazee's one-year hold on the school record. Daney nearly took first in the 100 backstroke also, but her 58.51 swim was barely out-touched by Princeton's Michelle Nielson.

One meet after grabbing a school record in the 200 breaststroke, fellow transfer student from Syracuse, Anne Tudryn, also added a first place finish in the event this past weekend -- this time in 2:20.23.

Knowing that the results of the meet were pretty much assured, Penn coach Mike Schnur conducted rigorous workouts for the entire week preceding Saturday's contest. With a rested team, the results could be unprecedented.

"I think that basically we have the opportunity to break all the records on the record board," Dawe said. "We were a really tired team and we swam great."

The Quakers next take on Harvard and Columbia in their most anticipated meet of the season.

Last year, Penn came home from Harvard with eight school records, but a 12-point loss against the Crimson, while beating the Lions for the first time since 1991.

With stellar freshman and the two transfers who have already broken school records, Penn's captains have different plans for this year's rematch at Scheerr Pool.

"Personally, it's the dual meet that I'm looking most forward to," Anders said. "We are ready for the challenge, and we're ready to win."

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