Men’s Swimming Gears For Ivy Championships on Thursday

Meet Psych Sheet

PHILADELPHIA - The Quakers strive for their second consecutive top-four finish at the Ivy League Championships when they travel north to Cambridge. The swimming begins on Thursday morning with prelims and runs through Saturday evening's finals.

Following the Action
Penn fans can follow all the action though Men's Ivy Championships home page. The page contains links to live updated results and houses a live blog. A men's championship record book is also available here. Additionally, a live webstream is available of all the action for a small fee. Click here to sign up to watch all the action.

Last Time Out
The entire team last took to the water over a month ago for a meet against cross-town rival La Salle. The Quakers made quick work of the Explorers, winning 12 of the first of 14 events on their way to a 181.5-113.5 victory.  Three swimmers recorded multiple victories in the meet, led by juniors Cameron Hood, Jeff Cragg and Brendan McHugh. Hood won the 500 and 200-yard free while Cragg won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. McHugh finished first in both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events, and helped Penn's 200-yard medley relay to top honors in the meet.

Sizing up the Competition
The Quakers are 3-4 in Ivy dual meets this season, however, they have posted a 3-1 mark since the start of 2011. In the fall, the Red and Blue lost to Columbia, 198.5-101.5, and fell to both Cornell and Princeton in a tri-meet at Cornell. Penn lost to the Big Red 172-120, and the Tigers, 220-67. In their first meet of the New Year the Quaker earned their first Ivy win with a 173-127 victory over Brown. The team continued its strong swimming with a sweep at Yale, beating the Bulldogs 153-147 and taking down Dartmouth 177-123. The Red and Blue's final league meet was at Harvard, and the team dropped it by a 197-103 margin.

Freestyle Outlook
In the distance events, sophomore Stephen Carroll is Penn's top rated swimmer in the 500, 1000 and 1,650-yard freestyle events. Junior Cameron Hood has also recorded top-eight finishes in the past and could also score some points. In the sprint events, juniors Brett Gomes and Peter Amos are the Quakers' highest seeded swimmers. Both are seeded in the top 15 in the 100-yard free while Gomes is seeded fifth and Amos 11th in the 50 free.

Backstroke Outlook
Freshman Rhoads Worster looks to make a splash in his first championships, as he is seeded in the top eight in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke events.  His seventh seed in the 100-yard back is only eclipsed by sophomore transfer Nick Johnson, who is seeded fifth. Johnson set the school record in the 100 back earlier in the season with a time of 49.95, breaking a record which had stood since 1992.

Breaststroke Outlook
Junior Brendan McHugh has never finished lower than third in any breaststroke event during his career with the Red and Blue and looks to capture his second Ivy title in 2011. As freshman he won the 100-yard breaststroke and took second to Princeton's Jon Christensen in the 200. Last year it was Christensen who doubled up while McHugh finished second in the 100 and third in the 200. This year the juniors are seeded 1-2 in both events with McHugh barely seeded second in each event.  Christensen is also seeded just ahead of McHugh in the 200-yard IM, the third event of the Championships for each swimmer.

Butterfly Outlook
Freshman Paul Maneri is the Quakers' top seeded swimmer in the 100-yard butterfly, sitting at 10th. Worster and senior Mike Tompkins are seeded in the top 15 of the event as well. In the 200, Worster is seeded fourth, the top seed in any event among Penn freshmen, while Tompkins is seeded 13th in the event.

Diving Outlook
Junior Jeff Cragg is the top seeded Red and Blue diver in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. Cragg is seeded fourth in the 3-meter, an event he almost won in 2009, and fifth in the 1-meter diving event. Junior Alex Marple and freshman Will Hartje will also dive and hope to give Penn's its best cumulative diving scores in years.