Saturday's women's swim meet against Yale came down to the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. With Penn and Yale neck-and-neck after the first three legs of the relay, it was up to anchor Jessica Aiello to close out the race and beat a team that had dominated the Quakers for a long time.
And the junior from Wellesly, Mass. came through for the Red and Blue.
"My teammates were going crazy, all of them were screaming and cheering, so all I could think about was getting to that wall first," Aiello said. "I didn't care how I felt in the water, I was not going to let my team down and let that Yale girl beat me. Sure, I was nervous, but I swim my best off of that type of adrenaline rush."
By edging Yale by 34 hundredths of a second in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Penn women's swimming and diving team reigned victorious over the Elis for the first time in 18 years, 151.5-148.5. The Quakers also beat Dartmouth, 210-90, at the same meet in Hanover, N.H.
"Right after the race all my teammates were all screaming and hugging and some were even crying," Aiello continued. "My coach came over, picked me up and was yelling with excitement. The satisfaction I felt at that moment is one of the main reasons why I swim."
Aiello's coach Mike Schnur was thrilled with her performance.
"It was a great turnaround because we were just touched out of the win against Columbia and Brown in our last two league meets. Jessica did a phenomenal job as our anchor and the win really meant a lot for her confidence. We haven't beaten Yale on the women's side since I was a swimmer for Penn, and this really shows that we are one of the three best teams in league."
This marked Penn's second win over Yale since the creation of the Ivy League for women's swimming 35 years ago.
Lauren Bergstrom, Tara Gillies and Stephanie Colson composed the first three legs of the 400-yard freestyle relay team that clinched the win over Yale.
Penn also made a strong showing in the 200-yard individual medley, the second-to-last event of the meet. Junior Alison Bretherick won with a time of 2:07.80, upsetting Yale's Moira McCloskey, an Ivy League champion in the 200-yard backstroke last year.
"Alison had an unbelievable swim against one of the best swimmers in the league," Schnur said. "I don't think anyone on Yale's team would have thought in a million years that Moira would lose that race. It's a testament to how hard Alison trains throughout the year."
The diving team outscored Yale to contribute to Penn's win. Juniors Janis Scanlon and Kate McArdle finished second and third at three meters with scores of 223.20 and 222.40, respectively.
On the men's side, the Quakers split, beating Dartmouth, 137-106, but falling to Yale, 159-84.
"It was nice to see our whole team in full force," Schnur said. "It was the best meet we've [swam] all year. Our best swimmers stepped up, and that is why we won."
Sophomore Yuchi Zhang won the 200-yard breast with a time of 2:09.35, for Penn's only first-place finish for the men. Sophomore Patrick Gallagher tallied two second-place swims in the 200- and 100-yard freestyles.
Despite the victory over Dartmouth, Schnur is not overlooking them for the EISL finals.
"Dartmouth is a good team," Schnur said. "It's the best Dartmouth team we've competed against in a while. Yale has only two guys that we have no answer for. Otherwise, our teams are pretty evenly matched."
Next Saturday, the Quakers travel to Annapolis, Md., to face Navy.
Ending the jinx - In 35 years of Ivy swimming, Penn had beaten Yale only once - Penn had not won against Yale since 1988
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