The University of Pennsylvania’s swimming and diving teams are preparing for a key Ivy League matchup as they host Columbia at Sheerr Pool this weekend. The women’s team, which has started the 2025-26 season with two wins, will compete on Friday evening, while the men’s team begins its season on Saturday.
The Penn women recently secured a 179-115 victory over Villanova. Kayla Fu broke her second pool record of the week in the 100 freestyle, and Kate Levensten set a new pool record in the 100 backstroke. Fu and Anna Moehn each won two races, while Sadie Howard swept both diving events for the second consecutive meet. In total, Penn claimed first place in 13 events during their last outing.
Fu led the sprint events by winning the 50 free in 23.09 seconds and setting a new Sheerr Pool record in the 100 free with a time of 49.80 seconds. The previous record had stood since 1990. Amy Qin finished third in that event with a time of 52.44 seconds.
Moehn won both the 200 free (1:51.97) and the 500 free (5:04.20), while Lily Zhang placed third in the latter event. Howard posted a career-best score to win the three-meter dive and also took first place in one-meter diving, leading a podium sweep by Penn athletes.
Levensten led another sweep for Penn in the 100 backstroke with her record-setting performance, followed by Brianna Cong and Connie Wang. Boeckman continued to perform well in distance events by winning the 1000 free.
Handley won the 100 breaststroke, Wang took first place in the 200 backstroke, and Cong claimed victory in the 100 fly as part of another top-three finish for Penn swimmers.
Penn’s relay teams also performed strongly, with Qin, Handley, Smith, and Fu winning the 200 medley relay.
On the men’s side, Penn is coming off a seventh-place finish at last year’s Ivy League Championships. Peter Whittington returns after earning All-Ivy honors with his second-place finish in the 400 IM at those championships. The team graduated Matt Fallon—a three-time Ivy champion and All-American—and saw James Curreri and Watson Nguyen earn bronze medals at last season’s championship meet.
Seven freshmen are set to make their collegiate debuts this weekend: Rohan D’Souza Larson, Henry Guo, Jack Handelman, Aaron Jia, Pippin Kantakom, Aiden Rhee, and Andrew Xie. Sophomore Eddie Jin joins Penn after transferring from North Carolina where he competed in seven meets last season.
Head Coach Mike Schnur welcomes Emma Sticklen to his staff as an assistant coach for her first season with Penn. Sticklen is recognized as a three-time NCAA champion and NCAA record holder from Texas.
Columbia’s women’s team enters following a win over NYU last week but finished sixth at last year’s Ivy League Championships—one spot ahead of Penn’s men’s squad which finished seventh. Columbia’s men also begin their season this weekend after placing sixth at last year’s conference meet.
Fans can follow updates on social media or visit PennAthletics.com for more information about Penn swimming & diving.
