Navy, Princeton Dual Comes Down To Final Few Events

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, January 4. PRINCETON and Navy battled throughout the afternoon in a tightly-contested meet, and in the end the Midshipmen came out on top by a narrow, 14-point margin, 157-143. Navy’s Tom Duvall and Princeton’s Michael Strand each picked up two individual wins for their respective schools.

Navy Press Release

The Navy men’s swimming and diving team (5-2) used its depth, winning nine of 16 events, to down Princeton (4-1), 157-143, on Saturday at Lejeune Hall. The Mids saw seven different swimmers win an individual race in the meet.

“[Our depth] is something that we have been able to create,” said head coach Bill Roberts about the all-around effort. “Fortunately, we had a few guys that were a hair off but their teammates picked them up to grab a good team win.”

Sophomore Tom Duvall (Durham, N.H.) led the Mids with first-place finishes in the 500-yard and 1000-yard freestyle races. Duvall has swept the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle races for the second consecutive meet against Princeton.

“If you watch Tom [Duvall] swim, he is very efficient in the water,” said Coach Roberts about Duvall’s success against Princeton. “He has a great internal clock and knows what he is doing in the pooi. He has a good idea how he is going to swim the race before he enters the pool, which is a great attribute and fun to watch.”

Navy senior Sean Murphy (Hudson, Ohio) had strong performances in 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, winning the 100-yard with a time 54.33 and finishing third in the 200-yard. Murphy’s 100-yard finishing time (54.33) is the third-fastest performance at Navy.

Following winning performances from Murphy (100-yd breaststroke) and Duvall (500-yd/1000-yd freestyle), Navy’s Jonathan DeBaugh (Conroe, Texas) finished first in an exciting 200-yd butterfly race with a time of 1:49.22. DeBaugh hit the tape 1.2 seconds before Princeton’s Oliver Bennett.

Navy won the next three of five events after DeBaugh’s first-place finish,. The Mids went 1-2-3 in the 50-yd freestyle, as Dain Bomberger (Lititz, Pa.) led the pack with a time of 20.31. Then Hugh Davison (Towson, Md.) took home the 100-yd freestyle, edging out Princeton’s Jeremy Wong by .57 seconds (45.23-45.80).

Senior Luke Hoffer (Chapel Hill, N.C.) extended Navy’s lead with a win in the 200-yd breaststroke, hitting the side of the pool at 2:00.56. Ben Freedman (Kennewick, Wash.) capped the meet with Navy’s final individual win in the 1-meter dive with a mark of 320.03.

“The history of the meets between Navy and Princeton you know coming in that it will be a battle,” said Coach Roberts. “I just told our guys that we can not predict who is going to win the meet, but the only thing you can control is go out, race and give it your all and it showed that everyone put forth their best effort today.”

Navy will look to carry its two-meet winning streak on the road against North Carolina on Jan. 11. The meet is slated to begin at 11 a.m.

Princeton Men’s Press Release

The recent powers in both the Ivy League and Patriot League have put together some memorable, and incredibly close, swimming & diving meets over the last four years. The 2014 debut for both programs was no different, as Navy held off a late Princeton charge for a 157-143 home victory.

Junior Michael Strand was a double winner for the Tigers, while Connor Maher, Teo D’Alessandro and Michael Manhard were also individual winners for Princeton, but a strong charge by Navy midway through the meet would be enough to send the Midshipmen to their fifth win of the season.

The quartet of Michael Strand, Jack Pohlmann, Connor Maher and Julian Mackrel opened the day with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay in 1:30.19.

Sophomore Zach Ridout was Princeton’s top finisher in the 1000 free (fourth, 9:38.62), but the Tigers got their first win of the day with a 1-2 finish in the 200 free. Sophomore Sandy Bole (1:39.86) edged classmate Teo D’Alessandro (1:39.99) for the victory.

The Tigers followed that with a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 back, with reigning Ivy champion Strand taking the event in 49 seconds flat. Sophomore En-Wei Hu-Van Wright took second in 49.61, while Maher finished third in 49.88.

Junior Oliver Bennett took second in the 200 fly, while Princeton got fourth-place finishes from Byron Sanborn (100 breast, 56.90) and Wong (50 free, 21.08). Mark O’Connell picked up a third-place finish in the 1-meter diving event with 277.58 points. Wong added a second-place finish in the 100 free in 45.80.

Maher, the reigning Ivy League champion in the 200 back, won that event in 1:48.47, while teammate Hu-Van Wright picked up another second-place finish in 1:48.95.

Hasler, a senior captain for the five-time defending Ivy League champions, finished third in the 200 breast in 2:02.77, while freshman Lance Rutkin took fifth in the 500 free in 4:40.62.

Strand completed his double with a 100 fly victory in 49.24, and O’Connell followed with a win in the 3-meter diving competition with 355.65 points. Teammate Michael Manhard added a second-place finish with a score of 348.83.

D’Alessandro, who set the Princeton record in the 200 IM at the Big Al Open, won that event in 1:51.92 and led off a 1-2-3 Tiger finish. Sophomore Marco Bove was second in 1:53.46, while Hasler was third in 1:55.04.

The Tigers completed the day in impressive fashion, as the quartet of Hu-Van Wright, Maher, Wong and Bole won the 400 free relay in 3:00.77.

Princeton will now break for its January finals period, but it will return to the pool in four weeks for its annual H-Y-P showdown. Yale will serve as host for the two-day meet, which begins Friday, Jan. 31, and concludes the following day.

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