The regular season dual meets prior to H-Y-Ps are almost an after-thought for the men's swimming team.
The squad's energy and training have to be concentrated around H-Y-Ps if the Tigers are to have a truly 'successful' season. However, in between the grueling workouts in preparation for H-Y-Ps, the Tigers cannot lose sight of the immediate dual meets at hand. After all, winning an Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championship would be impossible without wins in these events.
This uneasy balance between preparing for the future and staying grounded in the present is the challenge that the Tigers will face in the next eight weeks before H-Y-Ps. This weekend's meet against Army marked one such immediate test. The Tigers were up to the challenge, dispatching the torrid Black Knights — just off an emotional upset win against Navy last week — and carrying over their solid performances from last week en route to a 187-111 victory.
"We knew we couldn't take any chances," senior captain Dennis Chang said. "It was not crazy to think that [Army] could re-shave for us so we knew that we had to put forth a good effort."
Across the board
Despite Army's all-out effort to topple an Ivy power, Princeton (4-0 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) held its ground admirably — winning 12 of the 16 events at the meet and taking the top three positions in five different events. Given that every EISL team would like to upset the Tigers, the consistency and rate of progress of the Tiger swims these past two weekends bodes well for the team's continued success.
"Inevitably, you are going to come down a little bit from a high-pressure meet the previous week [due to the intense training]," senior captain Craig Wales said. "But I thought we swam pretty well and simply came out and got the job done."
Once again, the Tigers' depth was a key factor this weekend, nullifying whatever momentum the Black Knights had on their side. Princeton set the pace early, winning the first relay — the 200-meter medley relay — in an impressive time of one minute, 32.68 seconds with a particularly fast split by sophomore sprinter Jesse Gage in the freestyle leg (20.49). The Tigers followed that with a one-two punch in the 200 fly behind the solid swims of Wales and sophomore Carl Hessler. With close to its "A" lineup performing, Princeton did not seem to have many weak spots for Army to exploit.
"We need our big guns to get practice in swimming their events before our big meets [in order to have a good comparison]," Chang said.
As the meet continued, the barrage of Tiger first-place finishes was relentless. Gage in the 50 free, junior Kevin Volz in the 500 and 1000 free and freshman Juan Valdivieso in the 400 individual medley all went on to sizable victories in their events.
These swims were complemented by second-place finishes by fellow Tigers. Sophomore Paul Cremer finished behind Volz in both distance events, while senior Lance Needham followed Valdivieso with a good 400 IM swim of his own.
Add to that the winning performances of sophomore Pat Donohue and freshman Steve Fleming in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, respectively, and the Tigers put forth an impressive mix of young and old swimmers achieving the top spots.
Making a splash
Even the diving squad, facing a more experienced Army team, made its presence known. While Princeton placed only second and fifth in the one-meter competition, with junior diver Eric Carty-Fickes and freshman Michael Sullivan, respectively, the two rallied to a one-three finish in the three-meter, with Sullivan claiming first with a point total of 299.70.
Princeton is pleased with its progress so far and hopes that it can build upon its base as it heads deep into its second wave of training. Focus can temporarily shift exclusively to this training, though, as the Tigers' next competition takes place in the beginning of January against intra-state rival Rutgers.
"I'm really optimistic [at this point]," Chang said. "Most of our guys have had much quicker early-season times than in previous years; we're on track to swim some of our best times come H-Y-Ps."
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