W. Swimming falls to Yale but knocks off Dartmouth

With a resounding 165-117 win this weekend over Dartmouth, Penn women's swimming clinched the first of its two goals for the season -- posting a winning Ivy League record for the first time in almost 15 years. "The winning Ivy record is definitely a highlight of the season," senior co-captain Jessica Anders said. "We have been focusing on this goal all season, and now it's paid off." On Saturday at Dartmouth's Karl Michael Pool, the Quakers (8-3, 4-3 Ivy) crushed the Big Green (2-6, 0-5 Ivy), 165-117, but lost to the Elis (6-3, 3-1 Ivy), 190-110. "We were tired and not too healthy. It's really a shame we weren't at our best this week," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "If the meet had been at home, we would've given Yale some really tough competition." Setting a swift pace, the medley relay team of Megan Daney, Robyn Harm, Anne Tudryn and Laura Hotaling touched out the Yale team in the 200 medley relay by .52 of a second with a time of 1:50.01. Freshman phenom Hotaling took first place individually in the 50 free, touching in at 24.41, and the 100 free with her time of 53.47. "Considering all the factors -- the long bus ride, the training -- Laura had an amazing meet," Anders said. "Yale was really a solid team." Hotaling, along with swimmers such as Anders and Nicole Wake, filled in for Katie Stores in the sprint events. The sophomore continues to battle mononucleosis and missed the meets. Daney secured a first-place finish in the 200 backstroke with her time of 2:05.60. "Meg has really established her dominance," Schnur said. "She wins the backstroke events every week." Kathleen Holthaus defeated Yale's Heidi Kraus -- who bested Holthaus last year in the event -- in the 1000 free with her time of 10:20.52. Kraus got the better of Holthaus in the 500 free, however, with Penn's junior coming in second in 5:08.61. Yale's Susan Cooke, last year's Ivy League Championship Swimmer of the Meet, topped both Erica Gentilucci and Tudryn in separate events. Cooke narrowly edged out Tudryn in the 100 breaststroke by less than a second with her time of 1:06.94 and in the 200 breast by just over a second with her time of 2:22.51. Gentilucci touched in four seconds after Cooke in the 200 individual medley with her time of 2:11.87. "Since swimming is such a mental sport, every race is different depending if you're on or off," Gentilucci said. "This weekend, I felt pretty good. I'm new to college competition, so it's hard to be intimidated." Penn's consistently strong relay team of Anders, Daney, Hotaling and Wake recorded a second-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:36.29, second to Yale. Although the future of the Dartmouth women's swimming program was in jeopardy earlier this season, the impact of the reinstatement was not felt this weekend by the Quakers. "Dartmouth is just not on the same level as a team as we are. The budget problems didn't have any bearing on their performance this year," Schnur said. "We approached this meet as us versus Yale." The Quakers will host Rider at Sheerr Pool on Wednesday. If they defeat Rider, the Penn women's swim team would be one win away from attaining its ultimate season goal -- a 10-win season. "This weekend, we proved that the team's strength lies in our ability to persevere," Anders said. "Everyone was sore, tight and tired, but we stepped it up and had an amazing meet."

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