Sports Briefs

W. Swimming set for Rider at Sheerr With the Ivy League season now over, the Penn women's swim team will begin wrapping up its regular season tonight with a dual meet at Sheerr Pool against Rider. Not a team typically on the Quakers' (8-3, 4-3 Ivy) schedule, the Broncs are headlined by Melissa Michalov in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. The senior finished in 24.85 in the 50 freestyle and 53.79 in the 100 free in Rider's most recent meet against Drexel. Penn's trio of Anne Tudryn, Jen Block and Ashley Rader should have little trouble dominating the breaststroke events. In general, besides Michalov, Penn's times match up well with Rider's, and the Quakers could end up sweeping most of the events. Especially with Penn record holder Katie Stores recovering from mononucleosis, this meet could a provide an opportunity for Penn coach Mike Schnur to insert less experienced swimmers into the lineup, giving them the opportunity to qualify for championship meets. The Quakers will conclude the regular season on Saturday at La Salle, a meet which could allow them to achieve their goal of a 10-win season. After that, however, Penn will not compete until the Ivy League championships, where they will look to break in to the top five of the league. -- Zachary Silver M. Squash hopes for a miracle The eighth-ranked Penn men's squash team will travel to Princeton today knowing that a win against the No. 2 Tigers would be nearly miraculous. The Quakers (6-3, 1-2 Ivy) suffered a 9-0 defeat to No. 1 Trinity on Saturday. The competition will not get any easier tonight. "Princeton's top five are exceptionally good," Penn coach Craig Thorpe-Clarke said. "We are looking for the bottom half of the ladder to be competitive." Leading the Tigers will be freshman sensation Yasser El Halaby -- currently No. 1 in squashtalk.com's individual national rankings. El Halaby, who hails from Egypt, passed up a professional career to come to college in the United States. He has already beaten the nation's defending intercollegiate champion -- Bernardo Samper of Trinity. Playing at No. 1 on the ladder, sophomore Richard Repetto will have the formidable challenge of competing against El Halaby. "Rich is going in with a nothing-to-lose attitude," Thorpe-Clarke said. "He is going in with a game plan, and he has the skills to execute it." "I don't think tomorrow's match will be much of a match," Repetto said. "He is a worldclass player. I'm going to do my best to make things happen." While the Quakers' goal in the Trinity match was to win a only a couple of games, they are confident that they can win some matches against the weaker second half of the Princeton ladder. "We expect to win a couple of matches in the second half of the ladder," sophomore Billy Peelle said. "Whereas, at Trinity, it was an accomplishment just to get a couple of games." "We have nothing to lose and everything to gain," Thorpe-Clarke said. "You only learn from playing the best. Hey, you never know." -- Lewis Hart

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