W. Swimming gets best Ivy finish ever

The women's swimming and diving team is all about consistent improvement.

For the past three years at Ivy League Championships, the Quakers have improved from sixth in 2004, to fifth in 2005 and finally to fourth place last weekend at Harvard.

In the process, Penn shattered many records and achieved many firsts. The Quakers' 947 team points and the fourth-place finish are both school records. Additionally, the Red and Blue beat Brown and Yale at the Ivy League Championships for the first time first time in school history.

"Since I started swimming at Penn three years ago, we've moved up one place every year," junior Laine Litman said. "Other teams' coaches were even impressed that we've been consistently improving for the past few years."

Penn coach Mike Schnur attributes the team's success to its work ethic.

"These swimmers are dedicated, hard-working and tough," he said. "They really wanted to do well at Ivies."

The three-day championships started off with a bang for Penn on Thursday in the 500-yard freestyle, with three top-eight finishes.

Juniors Cammie Villarreal and Margot Newcomer and freshman Theresa Altieri finished fourth, fifth and eighth, respectively. Distance was a strength for the Quakers, as both Newcomer and Altieri also finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

"The whole distance group did a great job," Villarreal said. "We have trained so hard all year, and it was really exciting to see it pay off in so many of the girls' swims."

After the first two days of competition, Penn maintained third place in the team standings, with Columbia, Brown and Yale close behind.

"Four teams were battling for third place, so it was a whole team effort," junior Sarah Jeffers said.

Key finishes included sophomore Megan Carlin's fourth- and eighth-place swims in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke, respectively. In addition, junior Janis Scanlon finished in the top eight at one-meter diving -- the first time a Penn diver has done so in recent memory.

"Everyone was cheering and jumping up and down at every event," junior Stephanie Colson said. "Our team spirit has also improved. We just were really happy to be there, and it showed."

But in the end, Columbia pulled ahead of Penn in the team standings by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay.

"Even though we finished better than we have before, we were disappointed that we didn't take third," Schnur said.

The Quakers are already looking toward improvement for next season.

"While we finished better than ever before, there is still room for improvement," Colson said. "We have a great freshman class next year."

Carlin says the loss will provide some motivation for next season.

"I think this loss to Columbia has really put some drive in our team for an even more successful season next year."

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