Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are in action this weekend in double-dual meets against Ivy rivals Princeton and Pennsylvania.
This is the men’s first meet of the season, while the women have already swam against Dartmouth and Harvard last weekend. The Red soundly defeated the Big Green, but fell in a close meet against the Crimson.
For the men, this meet kicks of a season of high expectations based on strong leadership and improved returning swimmers, including senior tri-captain Christian Sweetser and Matt Harting, and juniors Eric Gonzales, John Kenny, and tri-captain Ryan Buckman.
“As for Penn, we are underdogs going in, but we did beat them in championships. We are expecting to give them a real tough time,” coach Joe Lucia said.
This weekend Buckman will return to the pool after missing end of last season after being diagnosed with cancer. “It’s really great that we have Ryan back, I expect him to swim well and make a real contribution,” Sweetser said.
As for the women, after a split last week, Penn and Princeton are two of their biggest rivals.
“We are focussing primarily on Penn. We have a big rivalry going on with them, and we are hoping that we can have the same effort and energy that we had last week against Harvard and Dartmouth,” senior tri-captain Kellee Ngan said.
Ngan, along with a full freshman class swimming, will be the keys against Penn and Princeton. Freshman will be featured in a wide range of events, primarily the 200-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle.
“We beat Penn in championships last year. My goal is for us to swim fast and out some points on the board,” head coach Marrie Neumer said.
This will be a test for both teams Princeton won the women’s league this year and is looking to repeat. If the Red can put some points on the board and top the Tigers, it would send a strong message to the rest of the league.
Archived article by Zach Vanderkooy