Women's Swimming triumphs at Richmond

It came down to the last lap.

The Penn women's swimming team entered the last event of the tri-meet -- the 400 freestyle relay -- tied with Richmond. But the dream team of Jessie Anders, Laura Hotaling, Megan Daney and Katie Stores knew that second best was not good enough.

As Stores began the final lap of a close race, she pulled ahead of the competition, winning the event in 3:31.86. The Quakers won the meet, 152.50-147.50 against Richmond and 206-94 against William & Mary.

"Katie's amazing, and she always comes through in the relays," junior Kathleen Holthaus said. "But it was such a team effort. The other girls on the relay team got us out to a strong start."

While William & Mary proved to be a non-factor at the meet, Richmond provided stiff competition for the Red and Blue all day.

Anticipated to repeat as Atlantic 10 champions this year, coach Mike Schnur considers the Richmond squad to be better than some of Penn's Ivy League opponents.

"Our girls just wanted it more," Schnur said. "We won by a very slim margin. It could've gone either way, but these are four fast women, who wanted to win."

The Quakers took either first or second place in 12 of the 16 events, but it was the depth of the Penn squad ultimately decided the meet.

"Richmond had great first and second swimmers, but the other swimmers were not so great," Schnur said. "We had the depth to get those extra points."

The Red and Blue set the pace early on as the team of Daney, Hotaling, Annie Tudryn, and Robyn Harm won the opening 200 medley relay, finishing in 1:48.62.

"This meet just proved to all of us why we swim," co-captain Anders said. "Right from the start, the energy level was high; there was so much excitement. The pressure motivated us to really step it up."

Led by Hotaling and Daney, the talented crop of newcomers made a first-rate debut at the meet. Daney claimed first place in the 100 backstroke (58.33) and the 200 backstroke events (2:05.02).

Tudryn's time of 2:19.71 in the 200 breaststroke event not only earned her a first place finish, but also a spot in the Penn record books.

"Annie is ranked something like 30th in the country with that time, which is pretty good at this point in the year," Schnur said.

Perennial powerhouses Holthaus and Stores also turned in superior individual performances for the Red and Blue.

Holthaus took first place in the 1000 free event with a time of 10:19.64, while Stores finished first in the 100 free in 52.65 and second in the 200 free in 1:54.91.

"Richmond had a lot of momentum going into the [100 free] event," Schnur said. "but when Katie won, that was just a huge momentum change for us,"

"That really got us going."

The Quakers hope to carry the momentum from their win against Richmond and William & Mary into this weekend when they face Princeton and Cornell at their first Ivy League meet of the season.

"Our women are swimming faster than they've ever swum at this point in the season," Schnur said. "They're hard-working, dedicated athletes who want to be good, and I think they're ready to take on a lot of challenges this year."

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