M. Swimming to rely on team's depth

The Penn men's swimming team will continue its dual meet competition with two non-conference meets in the next four days. First up for the Quakers (5-4, 2-4 Ivy League) are the Rider Broncs, who will visit Sheerr Pool today at 5:30 p.m. Rider (5-4, 2-1 MAAC) will be the second scholarship team the Quakers face in dual-meet competition this year. While the Broncs do not pose as much of a threat as Notre Dame did two weeks ago, Penn is still not taking them lightly. "We're scouting Rider, and we realize that they have some really strong swimmers," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "They have four guys who are as good as we have or close to it." Two of the swimmers Schnur is referring to are sophomores Sam Engle and Robert DeSandre. Engle, a letter-winner from Manheim, Pa., recorded his best time in the 200 backstroke in 1:47.50 -- two and a half seconds under Penn's school record. DeSandre is expected to challenge Penn's freshman sensation Pat Maloney in the butterfly. The Broncs are also led by three-time letter-winners Jon O'Reilly and Cliff Young. Both seniors are expected to challenge the Quakers in the breaststroke and individual medley. "The talent of their scholarship players presents some tough matchups and are going to make for some really good races," Schnur said. While the Broncs are currently riding a two-meet winning streak, Rider lost to Ivy teams Columbia and Princeton -- teams that also beat the Quakers -- in a seventh-place finish at the Princeton Invitational in December. Rider's strength at the top of each event resembles that of Brown, who boasted junior sensation Jefferson Moors but had little overall team depth. Instead of avoiding Moors, the Quakers challenged him in every race and ended up defeating him in the 400 medley relay and the 1000 freestyle. The Quakers will employ a similar strategy against Rider tonight. "We won't just concentrate on the races that [Rider's] top swimmers aren't racing in," junior Matt Hand said. "We will take them on from the beginning." Despite Rider's individual talent, the Quakers are expecting their depth to be the deciding factor in the meet. The Broncs do not possess nearly as talented a freshman class as Penn does. "We'll probably be able to beat Rider because our depth is too good for them," Schnur said. "They have one guy per event who is real good while we have three." After Rider, the Red and Blue will host a much weaker La Salle program on Saturday. The Quakers hope that they can use both of these non-conference meets to work on times for the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championships in March.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.