PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's and women's swimming and diving programs completed a sweep over La Salle after winning 18 out of 24 events at Kirk Pool.
Penn Women
The Quakers picked up their first dual victory of the season in comfortable fashion, winning 133-99. A relay team of Hannah Kannan, Rachel Maizes, Monika Burzynska, and Tara Larusso kicked off the meet with a win in the 400-medley relay (3:57.36). Kaitlyn Stearns followed the event with a victory in the 1,000 free (10:39.59), and the 500 free later in the meet (5:06.72) - improving 2.86 seconds on her season-best.
Vicky Wong won the 200 free (1:56.86) while Molly Westrick took the 50 free (25.32) to secure Penn's third and fourth consecutive victories to start the meet.
The Quakers went 1-2-3 in the 200 fly; Anna Newnam won the event with a time of 2:07.36. Joanne Hu finished just over a second behind to take second place (2:08.38), and Burzynska finished a hair behind Hu to secure third (2:08.40).
Larusso (53.89) and Wong (53.97) took the top two spots in the 100 free, respectively. The Quakers followed that event with another 1-2-3 finish in the 200 back. Kannan (2:07.66), Katie Kiely (2:08.38), and captain Libby Jardeleza (2:09.28) took the top three spots, all finishing at least four seconds faster than the rest of the pack.
The Quakers took second and third-place in the 3-meter diving event. Madison Perry finished in second with a score of 231.53 and Juliette Pozzuoli finished just behind with a score of 228.38. Perry posted the highest score for Penn in the 1-meter dive (207.30) to take third-place.
Penn Men
On the men's side, Penn had a similar start. The Quakers won the first six events en route to a 147-84 victory over La Salle. A team consisting of Mark Blinstrub, Boris Yang, Sean Lee, and Thomas Dillinger won the 400-medley relay (3:23.56) in convincing fashion, finishing 4.60 seconds ahead of the competition.
The Quakers then went 1-2-3 in the 1,000 free. Will Thomas took first place (9:40.24), with Matthew Haigh coming in just behind (9:43.89), and CJ Hinckley rounding out the group in third (9:49.80). Jacob Furlong came out on the winning side of a tight finish in the 200 free (1:42.90), overtaking the La Salle swimmer on the last lap to win.
Dillinger won the 50 free (21.11) as Nathaniel Cunnan (21.32) and Lee (21.34) posted third and fourth-place finishes, respectively. For the second straight meet, Andrew won the 200 IM (1:56.70) and saw his teammate Yang finish just behind in second (1:56.72).
John-Michael Diveris won his first diving competition of the season, placing first in the 3-meter dive with a score of 304.73. James Hopper finished just behind with a score of 300.23. Hopper won his first diving event for Penn later in the meet, placing first in the 1-meter dive with a score of 352.80. Diveris finished second behind Hopper (313.35).
Lee earned his first solo win of the meet in the 100 free (46.23) after finishing just 0.03 seconds ahead of La Salle's Marcus Forsgren. Freshman Zach Althoff won his first event for the Red and Blue after winning the 200 back (1:55.28).
For the second time on the men's side and fourth time in the meet, Penn went 1-2-3 in an event. Jacob Furlong won the 500 free (4:41.35) while Jack McCaghren (4:45.08) and Matthew Haigh (4:47.47) finished in second and third, respectively.
The Quakers are on the road again later this week as they hit the Main Line to face city rivals Villanova on Friday at 5 p.m.
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