The women's swimming and diving team has put together a solid season to date, with impressive wins over Ivy League rivals Cornell and Dartmouth early in the season. However, the Bears will likely try to put their latest meet behind them as quickly as possible. In its first meet since December, Brown fell to the University of Pennsylvania 180-120 on Jan. 13 - only the second time Brown has lost to the Quakers in the series' history. Brown's only other loss to Penn happened in 1988.
According to swimmer Sarah Goodman '09, the Bears and the Quakers entered the meet with different mindsets. Brown's training regimen is geared so the team is peaking at the right time - the Ivy League Championships in mid-February - which Goodman felt contributed to the loss.
"They came in gunning for us and we're focusing on the end of the season," she said.
However, the meet did not spell disappointment for everyone. Amy Latinen '07 took first place in the three-meter dive, qualifying for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships.
Right from the opening of the meet, however, the Penn squad proved it would be tough to top, taking control of the meet in the opening event. In the 200-yard medley relay, Emily Brush '07, Aly Wyatt '08, Meredith Cocco '07 and Goodman finished two seconds behind the Quakers, clocking in at 1:50.72.
"We need to work on staying behind each other," Goodman said, also citing fatigue as a contributor to the loss.
Co-captain Ashley Wallace '07 agreed that the squad as a whole had less energy than usual. "We just got back from our training trip," she said. "It took a lot out of us."
Nevertheless, the Bears pulled off a few impressive performances. Latinen's win in three-meter diving was the highlight of the day - her score of 283.88 qualified her for the NCAA Zones in March. Latinen joins teammate Dana Meadow '07, who qualified for Zones earlier in the season.
The Bears outpaced the Quakers in two more events, although it was not enough to close the 60-point gap. Bailey Langner '10 won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:24.43. Later, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Becky Kowalsky '07, Goodman, Brush and Susannah Ford '10 recorded a time of 3:40.66, edging out teammates Ainsley McFadgen '09, Lindsay McKenna '07, Anna Gleyzer '10 and Lauren Harlow '07.
Overall, the Bears collected mostly second-place finishes. They totaled eight in by the meet's end. Kowalsky completed the 200-yard freestyle in 1:54.28, less than a second behind Penn's Sara Coenen. Brush swam the 100-yard backstroke in 59.58 and the 200-yard backstroke in 2:05.39 to place second in both events. Wyatt earned two second-place finishes for herself, clocking in at 1:07.53 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 2:10.97 in the 200-yard individual medley.
Wallace found herself in second place as well, swimming the 100-yard butterfly in 59.26. Earlier in the day, she had taken third in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:07.30, but she was satisfied with her results.
"I'm happy," she said. "My times were some of the best I've had this season."
Goodman, who was impressive in both of the team's early-season conference victories, had a more difficult time in her first meet of 2007. She recorded times of 24.80 in the 50-yard freestyle and 54.45 in the 100-yard freestyle for two third-place finishes.
"I should have won," Goodman said. "They were all really close."
Other third-place finishers included Cocco, who swam the 100-yard butterfly in 59.36, a tenth of a second behind Wallace. McFadgen completed the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle in 10:23.56 and 5:07.20, respectively.
In diving, Katie Olko '10 took second place in the one-meter dive with a score of 247.65, while Latinen finished third with 243.45 points. In the three-meter dive, Jessica Williams '09 earned 269.18 points for second place, behind only Latinen.
The Bears may have defeated the Quakers in every meet from 1989 to 2006, but they acknowledged the opposing squad's strengths this time around. "They have a really good freshman class, and they swam really well," Wallace said.
But Goodman believes the Bears would have come out on top if they had been well rested. "Any other day would have been different," she said. "We were really tired, but I know that's not an excuse."
The squad is back in action Saturday against Yale in New Haven, Conn. Until then, Goodman said the team needs "to rest a little more and let our bodies recover." Even with Brown's focus and determination, beating the Bulldogs will be no easy task.
"They're looking really strong," Wallace said. "We're going to try to put up a fight."
