Climbing three meters to the top of the diving board must get tiring when your team has three meets in only one week.
Nevertheless, Penn sophomore diver Tyler Markman overcame whatever fatigue he was feeling Saturday at Harvard, taking third place in the three-meter dive with one of his highest scores of the year in Penn's 237-62 loss to the Crimson.
Penn coach Mike Schnur said that Markman, who usually performs in the 240-point range, "dove superbly against Harvard, capping off a great week."
Markman scored 287.70 in the three-meter dive competition, continuing to improve his score by 10 points in each meet this week. He scored 277.87 against Columbia on Wednesday, and he finished with a 266.02 last weekend against Army.
Schnur expects Markman to carry this momentum into the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championships, where he believes the sophomore has a good chance of placing in the top eight.
The championships have recently been dominated by none other than the Harvard Crimson, who have won seven of the past eight titles. They have also been nearly perfect this season, losing only once -- to Ivy League rival Princeton.
Harvard remained dominant Saturday, clinching first and second place in every race.
That being said, Schnur expected a tough meet on Saturday and adjusted his lineup accordingly.
"We went into it with kind of an off lineup," Schnur said, emphasizing that the team's efforts were focused on the more winnable matchups with Columbia and Army.
This meet against Harvard was a chance for Schnur to allow some swimmers to participate in different events and have some fun to close out the season.
The entire team needed some enjoyment after this long week of swimming.
"All of the guys are just tired," Schnur noted. "Both mentally and physically."
Capturing only five third-place finishes, the Quakers struggled to score points against a superior Harvard squad.
Harvard's swimmers essentially outpaced the Red and Blue, regardless of how well they swam relative to their personal statistics.
Even Markman's season-high performance was not good enough to capture first place on Saturday. Three days earlier, his score, although it was lower, earned him a victory over Columbia's divers at Sheerr pool.
Saturday's loss, although marked down in the books like all of the others, actually had very little significance.
With the championships rapidly approaching, the Quakers felt they could easily overlook a loss to an obviously stronger Harvard team.
All of Penn's swimmers are focused on getting in their best shape to swim their best when it really counts.
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