Photo Credit: Princeton Athletics<\/p>\n
PRINCETON – The Princeton men’s swimming and diving team picked up wins in nine of 16 events en route to a 171-129 victory over Navy on Saturday afternoon at DeNunzio Pool. Connor Maher, Michael Manhard and Teo D’Alessandro each won two individual events to lead the Tigers.<\/p>\n
The Princeton men’s swimming and diving team has some lofty goals in their sights now that the calendar has officially turned to 2015. The Tigers’ opening statement of the new year was an impressive one Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Double wins by Teo D’Alessandro, Connor Maher and Michael Manhard, along with a strong effort throughout the lineup, pushed Princeton to a 171-129 victory over reigning Patriot League champion Navy Saturday at DeNunzio Pool. In one of Princeton’s closest rivalries over the last several years, the Tigers won the first four events to build a lead they would never relinquish.<\/p>\n
“It was a great opportunity for the team to start off with a victory against a quality team to build confidence that we can do bigger and better things later in the year,” sophomore Sam Smiddy, an individual winner Saturday, said afterwards. “After one of our last hard weeks of training we are definitely zeroing in on how we are going to perform at our very best at the end of the year.”<\/p>\n
Princeton opened the meet in impressive fashion, as the quartet of Michael Strand, D’Alessandro, Maher and Harrison Wagner won the 200 medley relay in 1:28.80. The Tigers actually posted two of the top three teams, as the relay of Andrew Helber, Jack Pohlmann, Alex Lewis and Julian Mackrel finished third in 1:31.38.<\/p>\n
Smiddy opened the individual events with a victory in the 1000; his time of 9:22.34 topped the rest of the field by more than 3.5 seconds. D’Alessandro, the Princeton record holder in the 200\/400 IM, was impressive in taking the 200 free in 1:37.91.<\/p>\n
Maher made it three in a row for Princeton, as he edged out Helber to win the 100 back in 49.76. Helber finished second in 50.19, giving the Tigers a 1-2 finish that helped build a considerable early lead.<\/p>\n
Navy bounced back with a win in the 100 breast, though the duo of Byron Sanborn (56.01) and Pohlmann (56.68) went 2-3 in the event. Freshman Corey Okubo followed with a runner-up finish in the 200 fly (1:50.21), but Wagner put Princeton back on the winner’s side by taking the 50 free in 20.45.<\/p>\n
Manhard was one of the Ivy League’ hottest divers during 2014, and he started the new year on the right note. He topped teammate Nathan Makarewicz (313.58) to win the 3-meter diving event with 341.55 points, and he later followed by winning the 1-meter competition with 312.14. Makarewicz also finished second in that event with 294.75 points.<\/p>\n
D’Alessandro picked up his second win of the day by taking the 100 free in 45.67, while Mackrel earned a runner-up finish in 46.21. Maher added a double of his own by sweeping the back events; he won the 200 in 1:49.04, while Okubo took third in 1:51.37.<\/p>\n
After Brett Usinger’s third-place finish in the 200 breast (2:04.22), Smiddy took second in the 500 free in 4:32.19. The freshman duo of Ben Schafer (51.11) and Lewis (51.76) went 3-4 in the 100 fly, while Sanborn (1:52.67) and Liam Karas (1:54.39) went 3-4 in the 200 IM.<\/p>\n
Princeton concluded the day with the quartet of Schafer, Wagner, Mackrel and David Paulk finishing second in the 400 free relay in 3:03.78.<\/p>\n
The Tigers will return to the water this Friday evening when they join the women’s team in a double dual against nationally ranked N.C. State. The meet will serve as Senior Day for both teams, though the Princeton men will host the Ivy League Championships in late February.<\/p>\n
The N.C. State men are currently ranked 17th nationally, while the N.C. State women are just outside the Top 25.<\/p>\n
Princeton won the first four events of the meet to build an early cushion on its way to posting a 171-129 victory over the Navy men’s swimming and diving team Saturday afternoon at DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, N.J.<\/p>\n
“Overall,” said Navy head coach Bill Roberts, “I was pretty satisfied with the efforts and performances of the entire team. All of the teams are working really hard at this time of the year. Our guys stepped up against a really good team and posted some quality performances.”<\/p>\n
The Tigers (6-2) claimed wins in the 200 medley relay, 1000 free, 200 free and 100 back events to take a 51-23 lead through four events. The Mids (6-3) climbed back into the meet with wins in the next two events, the 100 breaststroke and 200 butterfly. Marlin Brutkiewicz (So., Mobile, Ala.) posted a time of 55.83 to win the former event by nearly one-quarter of a second, then Jonathan DeBaugh (Jr., Conroe, Texas) touched the wall in a clocking of 1:48.75 to claim the latter by 1.4 seconds. Those efforts helped pull the Mids to within 65-47 with 10 events remaining.<\/p>\n
However, Princeton won each of the next four events to solidify its advantage in the meet.<\/p>\n
Navy did finish the meet strong by earning victories in five of the final six events of the afternoon. Young Tae Seo (Fr., Los Angeles, Calif.) started the run for the Mids with a winning time of 2:02.86 in the 200 breaststroke. Tom Duvall (Jr., Durham, N.H.) followed by winning the 500 free in a time of 4:30.31, then Debaugh claimed his second event win of the day with a time of 49.13 to earn the victory in the 100 fly.<\/p>\n
After the Tigers won the one-meter diving event, Seo posted a time of 1:51.87 to win the 200 individual medley and Navy’s foursome of Riley Mita (Sr., Stevenson Ranch, Calif.), Ethan King (So., Colliersville, Tenn.), Duvall and Dain Bomberger (Sr., Lititz, Pa.) won the 400 free relay in a time of 3:03.55.<\/p>\n
“Young Tae had a terrific meet,” said Roberts. “He did okay in his first race (a third-place finish in the 200 fly). He hadn’t swam the 200 breast in a while, so I was happy to see him compete as he did in it. Then he was racing side-by-side with a couple of Princeton swimmers throughout the 200 IM.<\/p>\n
“Technically, he had a real solid day.”<\/p>\n
The Mids will be back in action on Sat., Jan. 11, when both Navy programs play host to North Carolina in an 11 a.m. meet.<\/p>\n