🏀 Quaker Nation: NIL is coming to Penn

Monday, April 21

Design by Dana Bahng

The controversy surrounding the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports has been a polarizing topic for years — one that was brought to the national spotlight after 2022 College graduate Lia Thomas competed on the Penn women’s swimming and diving team at the NCAA level during the 2021-22 season. The DP spoke with three former Penn swimmers who are suing Penn for allegedly violating Title IX by allowing Thomas to compete in the 2022 Women’s Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships.

Photo by Lydia Tong

Star Quaker shooting guard Sam Brown has announced his transfer to Davidson. Brown entered the transfer portal in March after the firing of former Penn men’s basketball coach Steve Donahue. As a second-team All-Ivy selection in the 2024-25 season, Brown was Penn’s only conference honoree and the only freshman or sophomore on the All-Ivy team.

Penn is in discussions to create an NIL collective for its student-athletes, sources reported to The Daily Pennsylvanian. One source close to the matter reported a conversation in which a Penn men’s basketball coach told an athlete that some players would be paid through a collective in the near future, while another claimed that a collective has already been in use but that the measure is currently paused.

In its sixth straight loss, Penn men’s lacrosse closed out its Ivy League season with a deflating Senior Night loss to Princeton. At 4-9 on the season, Penn now heads to take on Notre Dame in South Bend to end a disappointing campaign. When asked what the team plans to do against the Fighting Irish, coach Mike Murphy said, “We’ll go out there and win the game.”

Photo by Cynthia Dong

MEN'S SQUASH
Squash senior Nick Spizzirri is ‘all in’ on Olympic goals

It has always been squash for senior Nick Spirzzirri. The two-time national champion and three-time Ivy League champion has his sights set on a professional squash career — and the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics — following the end of his collegiate career.

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Photo by Anna Vazhaeparambil

MEN’S LACROSSE (4-9, 1-5 Ivy) lost to Princeton 8-12, furthering their losing streak to a total of 6 to finish the Ivy season. [READ MORE]

WOMEN’S LACROSSE (8-5, 4-2 Ivy) beat Princeton 15-12 on Wednesday before winning against Cornell 18-10 on Saturday. [READ MORE]

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD competed at the Bison Outdoor Classic, Mt. SAC Relays, and the Tom Jones Invitational this past weekend.

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD competed at the Tom Jones Invitational and the Paul Donahue Invitational.

MEN’S TENNIS (21-9, 3-4 Ivy) beat both Brown and Yale 4-1 to finish the Ivy season.

WOMEN’S TENNIS (12-9, 5-2 Ivy) won both of its matches 4-2 (against Brown and Yale) this weekend to finish the Ivy season. Their overall conference record of 5-2 secured their spot as second in the Ivy League for the 2024-25 season. [READ MORE]

BASEBALL (17-14, 11-4 Ivy) lost its series against Yale this past weekend. After taking the first game 4-3, they lost the next two with scores of 7-4 and 8-4, respectively.

SOFTBALL (3-32-1, 1-17 Ivy) broke its losing streak with a game win against Cornell in the final game of the series, with a score of 5-2. It still lost the series as a whole, as Cornell won two of the three games.

MEN’S HEAVYWEIGHT ROWING came first in the Blackwell Cup, where it raced against Yale and Columbia.

MEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT ROWING came second for the Wood Hammond Trophy, where it competed against Princeton and Georgetown.

WOMEN’S ROWING placed fifth at the Big Ten Invitational this past Friday and Saturday in Florida.

MEN’S GOLF placed fifth out of 10 teams in the Roar-EE Invitational. The team now prepares for Ivy Championships, which begin on Friday.

WOMEN’S GOLF, despite record setting scores, tied for fifth at Ivy Championships out of six teams.

FOOTBALL had their spring game on Friday, giving the Penn community a glimpse into the upcoming the fall season.

STAT OF THE WEEK: The upcoming Penn Relays will be the 129th running of the event, extending the competition’s tradition of being the oldest and largest track meet in the United States.

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Sports associate Sonal Sukhatme contributed to this newsletter.

Today's newsletter was copy edited by Jessica Huang.

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Good morning, Penn.

How three former Penn swimmers came together to sue the Ivy League

Sam Brown of Penn men’s basketball to transfer to Davidson

Penn Athletics in talks to form NIL collective in coming years, sources say