"It was not ideal, it would have been good to have a good night's rest before the swim," women's co-captain Melissa Kern '07 said.
Kern, after waking up in the middle of the night in order to make the trek down to Penn, had a very strong meet. She broke a Dartmouth record in the 500-yard free-style. Kern also set two personal bests at the meet, one in the 500-yard freestyle and another in the 200-yard backstroke.
Despite Kern's strong swims, the women's team lost in a landslide. At the tri-meet, the women fell to the Yale Bulldogs 249-51, and to Penn 233-67. The men lost 217-78 to Yale and 231.5-68.5 to Penn.
Women's co-captain Elizabeth Rippe '07 agreed with Kern. "It was not ideal to compete after waking up at 4 o'clock in the morning," she said.
Head coach Jim Wilson was not disheartened by the loss.
"We would have done things the same way in which we did regardless of our competition," Wilson said. "Even if we thought we were going to win ... we would have stuck to our plans."
Wilson had planned to leave the morning of the meet months in advance and had purchased the flight tickets last summer. This was a calculated move that served to ensure that the members of the swim team were able to go to their Friday afternoon classes.
Another determining factor in leaving the morning of the meet, though not central in the scheduling process, was Wilson's concern for conserving the swimming program's money.
The Dartmouth swim teams have a unique funding situation. Four years ago the swimming program was dropped by the athletic department but pulled together $2.3 million through alumni, parents and students, establishing the John Glover Fund.
The fund was named after John Glover '55, a Dartmouth swimmer who made it onto America's Olympic team but died before he could compete.
Currently, the fund gives money to Dartmouth's athletic department, which in turn gives that money to the swim team. The fund was designed to last for ten years, after which financial responsibility would be transferred to the athletic department again.
Big Green swimming is perennially in the academic top ten of all Division-I programs.
Wilson requires a 3.0 GPA for all of his athletes. This standard is independent of the athletic department and the Ivy League. Last year, the men's swim team had the highest GPA of any D-I men's swimming program. The women's team also boasts a top-ten academic ranking among D-I women's swimming programs.
"The team is here to get great grades," Wilson said. "If we have to miss a practice for a lab or a corporate interview, so be it. Our team's GPA shows our dedication to academics. We just turned in a new GPA for the fall so we will see how that turns out."
Wilson cancelled Wednesday's afternoon practice due to labs, x-hours and other scholastic activities.
"I think that having swimming adds structure to our schedules and helps the team plan time to finish homework," freestyler Gordon Russell '08 said.
The swim teams are also perennial cellar-dwellers in the Ivy League. Since 1993, the beginning of Wilson's tenure, Dartmouth's men's swimming team has finished third-to-last in the Ivy League championship meet once. Every other finish has been worse, including five last-place finishes since 2000.
In the last seven years, the women's team has finished last at the championship meet three times, with second-to-last finishes the other four years. Wilson's responsibilities were expanded to include the women's team this year after Jerry Foley decided to rescind his acceptance of the position less than two months after being hired.
