Momentum could be a major factor this season

After the first day of competition at the Eastern Intercollegiate Swim League Championships last season, the Penn men's swimming and diving team was in eighth place out of nine teams. By the end of the next day's competition, they improved to seventh and on the final day of competition, the Quakers pulled in front of Brown for a sixth place finish.

"The team did well at Easterns; it was a good way to end the year," Penn coach Mike Schnur said. "Some of the momentum carried over into the summer and into this season. A lot of the guys who competed well at that meet have continued on and are getting better. Some of the guys who didn't do so well last year have stepped their level up."

"At the end of the season, I think we pulled through," senior captain Pat Maloney said. "Especially the last day at Easterns, we really came together as a team and it was just a lot of fun."

The momentum from last season has carried over in terms of work ethic.

"Especially in the past month, this team has come together and the intensity of practice has gone up so much," said Maloney, who swims butterfly and individual medley.

"We've got a lot of good upperclass swimmers who are going to carry the team," Schnur said. "Matt Blaszko leads every day during practice. Jason McGrath has stepped his level up a ton and he's a great person for people to follow every day."

In addition, strong freshman recruits will contribute to the depth of the team.

"A freshman who is going to make a difference right off the bat is John Gillette," Schnur said. "Right now, he's the fastest sprinter on the team. We're looking forward to seeing what he does in his first semester."

The team's strongest event will be breaststroke. Last year, sophomore Yuchi Zhang finished fifth at the EISL Championship in the 200 breast stroke, with a time of 2:05.59.

"We're not as deep as we have been in the past, with the exception of breaststroke," Schnur said. "We go five guys deep and they're all quality swimmers. I feel comfortable putting any of them in any breaststroke event and at the end of the season I think that will be our biggest point scoring event.

Another strong event for the Quakers is the 200 butterfly. Maloney finished third at the EISL Championships last year in the 200 fly with a time of 1:48.22.

Last, the Red and Blue's diving squad is stronger than ever, according to Schnur.

"The one thing I'm sure of is that we have a much better diving team than we've ever had. Tyler [Markman], Nick [Corsano] and Rob [Wyss] are going to help lead the team all season. They're all going to do a great job for us."

Penn begins its season this Saturday at noon, facing Lehigh and Rider at Sheerr Pool. They then face league rivals Cornell and Princeton later in November.

"We have a lot of tough teams first semester," Schnur said. "Princeton, Columbia and Cornell are going to give us some tough challenges and I have a feeling that we will continue to get better as the year goes, but we really have to step it up in the next month."

Team members are optimistic about the upcoming season.

"Since I've been here, I think this is the strongest team we've had," Maloney said. "We may not be big, but we've been training hard and I think we're a more complete team than we have been in the past. By the end of the season all of this work is going to pull us through."

Season outlook 2004 record: 5-6 Ivy League / EISL finish: 2-6 / tied for seventh Last Ivy / EISL title: 1971 Coach: Michael Schnur C'88 Coach's record: 82-57 over five years Strengths: breaststroke, butterfly, diving First meet: Saturday vs. Lehigh

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