W. Swimming to test Ivy might in N.H.

This weekend will tell a lot about where the Penn women's swimming squad stands, with the Ivy championships looming in February. The Quakers (7-2, 6-2 Ivy) have already posted their most impressive season in the program's history -- having defeated both Harvard and Columbia already this year. However, an always competitive Yale squad awaits on Saturday when Penn travels to Hanover, N.H., to face both the Elis and Dartmouth. Like the Quakers, the Elis are off to a fast start. However, this meet will be mired in tragedy following the death of four Yale athletes last weekend in an automobile accident. Yale's meets that weekend against Fordham and Fairfield were canceled. However, the Elis have returned to the pool to defeat both Army and Lehigh. Penn's transfer-led talent in the breaststroke and backstroke events -- behind Anne Tudryn and Megan Daney -- should be the strength for the Quakers in the meet. However, Penn will not bring its record-holding freestyler Katie Stores to the meet because of her continued bout with mononucleosis. "Without some of the best swimmers being there, we're going to have to hope that other people will step up to fill those spots," senior co-captain Jessica Anders said. Additionally, Yale could be rested for this meet in anticipation for next week's showdown with rivals Harvard and Princeton -- the HYP meet. Dartmouth, meanwhile, will be looking for an upset this weekend against both Penn and Yale. The Big Green's team was recently resurrected, after the school's athletic department had eliminated the men's and women's programs in a college-wide budget cut. "I think if Dartmouth had cut swimming, it kind of would have been a sign of trouble for the rest of the league," Anders said. But despite any momentum the Dartmouth swimmers may have from the survival of their team for at least the next ten years, Penn is the superior team in this meet. "You look at our times and their times, and we're clearly the dominant team," Anders said. "Dartmouth has been falling toward the bottom of the league fast." The Quakers are not taking any teams lightly this year, instead will look to consistently remaining confident and focused. "We're excited about the rest of the year," junior distance swimmer Kathleen Holthaus said. "The next month is what it all comes down to for us." Holthaus, who has established herself as the finest distance swimmer in Penn history, has school records in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle. Holthaus believes this Quakers' squad is poised to finish strong. "We were confident last year, and we have every reason to be even more so this year," she said. "We have an amazing class of freshmen, two great transfers. Everyone's swimming really well."

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