The University of Pennsylvania men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams wrapped up their dual meet season with a friendly against non-conference, cross-town rivals La Salle University at the Explorers’ Kirk Pool. The Quaker women topped the Explorers 160.5-131.5 (men) and 180-121 (women). It was a final tune-up meet for both teams as the Quakers get ready for Ivy League Championships and the Explorers prepare for Atlantic-10 Championships at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio from February 18-21. Full results here.
Women’s Meet
The Quaker women won 12 of 16 events at Kirk Pool, including 1-2-3 sweeps of the 100 and 200 fly and 50 free, to control the meet. Penn began with Lauryn Brown, Haley Wickham, Taylor Sneed, and Rochelle Dong going 1:47.56 to win the 200 medley relay over La Salle’s Chelsey Curran, Kelsey Jenkinson, Amina Wilson, and Sarah Finn (1:49.52).
Dong went on to win both the 100 free (52.78) and 100 fly (57.10). Sneed earned a gold in the 100 back with a 58.64 win over teammate Lauren Church (59.37) and Wilson of La Salle (59.88). Megan Alexander was a double winner for the Quakers, taking the 200 fly in 2:07.57 and the 200 back in 2:08.46. Likewise, Virginia Burns picked up two wins for Penn. She went 1:53.25 and 5:01.54 to win the 200 free and 500 free, respectively. In the 500, Burns out-touched La Salle freshman Emma Smith by .41. Smith opened the meet with a decisive 10:18.72 win in the 1000 free and closed it with a 2:11.18 to 2:11.47 victory over Penn’s Catherine Yee in the 200 IM.
Kimberly Phan added more points to the Quakers’ total with her 24.49 finish in the 50 free. Sydney Tan picked up a win in the 200 breast, touching in 2:20.75. La Salle’s Jenkinson came in second with a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Penn’s Wickham, 2:23.71 to 2:23.81. Jenkinson edged Wickham in the 100 breast, too, out-touching her 1:06.20 to 1:06.58 for the win.
The two schools split the diving. La Salle senior Paige Frishkorn won the 1-meter over Penn’s Maggie Heller and Heller outscored the field in the 3-meter diving event. La Salle’s Curran notched a second in the 200 back (2:10.12), while her teammate Finn was runner-up in the 100 free (53.85).
Penn’s Meagan Dollard, Burns, Carolyn Yang, and Phan finished with a 1:37.75 in the 200 free relay.
Final Scores
University of Pennsylvania 180 – 121 La Salle University
Men’s Meet
The Quaker men came out on top in nine events, and finished 1-2-3 in the 200 free and 200 breast. The Explorers scored big points from freshman Fabian Bergman’s three individual titles and their sweep in 1-meter diving.
Bergman was the most prolific of the day’s swimmers, claiming titles in both backstrokes and the 200 IM. In the 100 back, he beat Penn’s Philip Hu by more than a second when he touched in 50.79 to Hu’s 51.97. The 200 back was a little closer; Bergman won in 1:52.25, while Brian Foley of Penn was second in 1:53.12. The 200 IM was more decisive, as Bergman outswam Penn’s Brendan Crystal, 1:55.67 to 1:57.27.
Penn’s Hu, Kyle Yu, Michael Wen, and Eric Schultz won the 200 medley relay in 1:31.59 to get things started. Bergman, Dimitrije Mladenovic, Jakub Bartosiewicz, and Jonathan Cabral finished second in 1:33.50.
Chris Swanson put up two strong swims for the Quakers with a 9:17.11 win in the 1000 free and 4:35.94 win in the 500 free. In both cases, La Salle’s Mattias Glenesk was runner-up (9:30.12 and 4:39.66, respectively). In the 500, Glenesk tied with Penn freshman Alex Peterson. Penn’s other double came from the short end of the freestyle spectrum. Sprint specialist Schultz won the 50 free (20.76) and 100 free (45.75), beating Cabral (21.50) and Kevin Su of Penn (46.48), respectively. Su scored points for the Quakers with his 1:41.38 victory in the 200 free.
Penn breaststrokers picked up more wins: Yu clocked a 57.12 to win the 100, while Wes Thomas put up a 2:04.63 to earn the 200 title, just in front of Yu (2:05.00). Teammate Michael Wen had the fastest 100 fly time of the outing, touching in 50.83, with Bartosiewicz just behind in 51.20. Bartosiewicz won the 200 fly, however, edging Hunter Brakovec of Penn, 1:53.20 to 1:53.86.
The diving points lined up in La Salle’s favor. CJ Gimpel won 1-meter diving for the Explorers, just .52 points ahead of teammate Dylan Yurasits. In the 3-meter event, Yurasits claimed the title over Gimpel. Penn finished off the meet with a 1:23.70 in the 200 free relay from Alex Porter, Johnny Germanis, Kevin Su, and Schultz.
Final Scores
University of Pennsylvania 160.5 – 131.5 La Salle University
