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Monday, March 24



Good morning, Penn.


Welcome back to Quaker Nation, Penn’s premier sports newsletter.

In this week’s edition, we’re spotlighting Penn's recent return to the national spotlight as 1968 Wharton graduate and President Trump furthers his campaign against higher education. 

Without further ado, let’s dive into the latest stories from The Daily Pennsylvanian Sports:

Funding freeze: President Donald Trump threatened to pause $175 million of Penn’s federal funding over the previous inclusion of Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer, on the Penn women’s swimming and diving team.

Dynasty rolls on: Following a dominant regular season, Penn gymnastics completed a four-peat at the Gymnastics East Conference Championships.

Historic finish: Penn finished 16th place out of 66 teams at the NCAA Wrestling Championships — good for its program-best since 2016. 
 
Photo by Jesse Zhang
WOMEN’S SWIMMING

Here’s what to know about former Penn swimmer Lia Thomas 

 
Read here to learn about Lia Thomas, a transgender woman and former Penn swimmer, following 1968 Wharton graduate and President Trump's recent pause of $175 million of federal funding to Penn — a decision attributed to Penn previously allowing Thomas to compete with the Penn women’s swimming and diving team.
Photo by Anna Vazhaeparambil
SPORTS

Trump administration freezes $175 million in federal funding to Penn

 
Donald Trump recently paused $175 million in federal funding to Penn, attributing the decision to the University’s previous inclusion of Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, in its women's swimming and diving program. The University still hasn't received official confirmation of the funding freeze, leaving Penn in limbo.
 

GYMNASTICS

Penn gymnastics wins GEC Championships for the fourth-consecutive year
 

Penn gymnastics won the Gymnastics East Conference Championships held this past Saturday at the Palestra. With a total score of 195.700, Penn won decisively over the seven other schools, including Ivy League rivals. This marks the continuation of a Penn dynasty as the Red and Blue won their fourth consecutive title.
 

 
MEN’S LACROSSE

Offensive struggles doom Penn men's lacrosse in 9-8 overtime defeat to Dartmouth


In a St. Patrick's Day defeat, the No. 16 Red and Blue fell in overtime to No. 20 Dartmouth. The Big Green stifled Penn's offense, and after the Quakers failed to convert with their lone possession in overtime, Dartmouth came away with a shocking game-winning goal.
 
 
Keep catching up on the latest Penn Athletics news →
Photo courtesy of  Jeffery Camarat, UNC Athletics

GYMNASTICS
From ‘circus child’ to self-assured star: Penn gymnast Marissa Lassiter eyes NCAA regionals

Read about Marissa Lassiter’s journey from energetic kid to athletic star. Lassiter, individually, is in the regional qualification race for an all-around spot with one of the highest NQSs in individual competition in the Northeast region, all while her team is coming off of an impressive GEC Championship win.
 
Photo by Sanjana Juvvadi

SPORTS COLUMN
Slinka-Petka | Trump’s weaponization of college sports

Sports columnist Slinka-Petka details how Trump’s recent federal funding freeze is just a thinly veiled attack on higher education and the sanctity of sports. 
 
Photo by Jackson Ford

MEN’S FENCING (24-7) finished 8th at the 2025 NCAA Fencing Championship last week. Three team members earned All-American honors, including senior Bryce Louie, who won his second-straight All-American to end his collegiate career. 

WOMEN’S FENCING (21-14) finished 8th at the 2025 NCAA Fencing Championship this weekend. 

GYMNASTICS took home its 4th consecutive GEC championship title, with a score of 197.500, with junior Skyelar Kerico setting a new program and GEC record in the all-around (39.425). [READ MORE]

MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING (4-6, 1-6 Ivy) is preparing for the NCAA Championships, which are set for March 26-29. Olympian and two-time All-American Matt Fallon is the team’s sole qualifier. 

WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING (8-4, 3-4 Ivy) Juniors Anna Moehn and Sydney Bergstrom took 21st and 36th in the 1,650 Free respectively, closing out the team's season. [READ MORE]

TRACK AND FIELD hosted the first outdoor meet of the season and took home 15 first-place wins, with Angeludi Asaah scoring a personal best in the discus throw — moving to second on the Quakers’ stat list. [READ MORE]

MEN’S TENNIS (18-5) was back in fighting form after breaking their winning streak last weekend, beating Liberty 5-2 and sweeping wins against Wagner and George Mason University. 

WOMEN’S TENNIS (7-7) beat Temple 7-0 at home on Saturday. They now prepare to begin the Ivy season against Princeton next weekend.

MEN’S LACROSSE (4-5, 1-1 Ivy) narrowly lost against both Saint Joseph's (10-11) and Dartmouth (8-9), which went into overtime.

WOMEN’S LACROSSE (4-2, 1-0 Ivy) prepares to face the Florida Gators on Wednesday.

WRESTLING (10-6, 4-1 Ivy) placed 16th out of 66 at NCAA championships, with junior CJ Composto placing fourth individually, achieving All-American status.

BASEBALL (8-9, 3-0 Ivy) beat Harvard over three games this weekend and looks ahead to playing Saint Joseph’s in the first game of the Liberty Bell Classic on Tuesday.

SOFTBALL (1-20, 0-6 Ivy) lost to Columbia over three games this weekend, extending their losing streak to 20.

MEN’S ROWING heavyweights opened their season with a bang, beating Northeastern in all four races and winning the Burk Cup for the first time since 2015. The lightweights have yet to start the new season.

WOMEN’S ROWING opened its season with two wins in the morning but lost all five of its afternoon races at the Big Ivy Dustup this past Saturday.

MEN’S GOLF finished 12th out of the 15 teams competing in the All-American Intercollegiate tournament last week.

WOMEN’S GOLF competed at the Kingsmill Intercollegiate tournament on March 23-24, where they tied for second last year and won first place two years ago.

STAT OF THE WEEK: Gymnastics won the Ivy Classic, GEC regular season, and GEC championship both this season and last. Junior Skyelar Kerico set a new program and GEC record in the all-around with a score of 39.425, giving her the top seven scores in Penn history in the all-around. 

                                                                                                     READ THE LATEST →
Stay tuned for coverage on thedp.com and on Instagram, @dailypennsports.

MARCH 25
Baseball at Liberty Bell Classic
 

MARCH 26-29
Men’s swimming and diving at NCAA Championships
 

MARCH 29-30
Men’s lightweight rowing at National Collegiate Lightweight Invitational
Today's newsletter was copy edited by Jessica Huang.
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