Swimming takes two from Army for seniors

The men's and women's swimming teams capped off a festive senior day Saturday with convincing wins over Army, 138-103 and 138-101,respectively.

While the scores were nearly identical, the teams used different approaches to capture the victories.

Battling Army for the final time as conference foes, the men continued to rely on the experienced leadership from their talented senior core. The women, on the other hand, breezed through the meet, relying on their depth while resting some of the team's leaders.

"For the men, it was the same thing that has been going on," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "These five seniors completely carried the team. With the exception of Matt Blaszko, all the men winning races right now are seniors. [They] are everything to this team."

Senior Andrew Trout contributed two wins to the Quakers' cause in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events.

Fellow fourth-year swimmer Brendan Lang captured another first place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, while seniors Eric Hirschhorn and Shaun Lehrer added to the Quakers' score, placing in their respective freestyle events.

Sophomore Matt Blaszko added two key victories as well, with impressive wins in the 500- and 1000-yard freestyle.

"I think Matt Blaszko made a huge difference in the meet." Schnur said. "He won two events we really needed and beat very good [Army] swimmers."

With the Army men leaving the Ivy League after this season to join the Army women in the Patriot League, the Quakers were excited to send the Black Knights away with a loss.

"It was nice to beat Army considering we will never swim them again in a dual meet" sophomore Pat Maloney said.

On the women's side, the Quakers led a more balanced attack in their easy victory.

"Most of the senior women didn't really swim," Schnur explained. "It was such an emotional beginning to the meet, I knew they weren't going to be as focused on competing. It was time for someone else to do it."

Freshmen Cameron Villarreal and Margot Newcomer led the women's attack with two victories each. Villarreal won both the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke, while Newcomer led the charge in the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard freestyle.

The efforts of seniors Kathleen Holthaus and Anne Tudryn would not go without notice, as each finished her career at Sheerr Pool with impressive victories.

Holthaus won the 500-yard freestyle, while Tudryn took first in the 200-yard butterfly.

The women's team's dominance came as no surprise to sophomore Laura Hotaling.

"Everyone had a solid meet," Hotaling said. "We wanted to send the seniors off properly. It was the [women's] last swim at Sheerr pool, and we wanted to make sure we sent them off on a high note."

Both teams will look to keep to their winning ways with the Ivy and ECAC championships less than three weeks away.

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