Men's and women's swimming teams win HYP meets

Sometimes, one can feel the momentum of something special in the air at a sporting event in its very first moments. One performance feeds off another until it acts as an avalanche, burying a team's opponents without giving them a chance to react.

As sophomore sprinter Jamie Leahy powered into the wall in the last leg of the 400 free relay — the final event in this weekend's Harvard-Yale-Princeton Meet — the Princeton men's team (8-0 overall, 6-0 Ivy League) had not only toppled its fourth record of the day, but had also completely flattened the Crimson and Elis. This relay was the last of a litany of great swims, putting the finishing touches on a 41-point upset of Harvard.

That record-setting swim of 2 minutes, 57.47 seconds capped what was arguably one of the best and most complete Princeton swimming weekends for both the men's and women's squads. On Friday and Saturday, the women's team (6-0 Ivy) solidified their claim as the best in the Ivy League by beating Harvard and Yale by scores of 205-112 and 196.5-120.5, respectively. The men's team topped Harvard, 197-156, and Yale, 253-100, Saturday and Sunday.

Started off by junior Val Kukla's record-shattering swim on Friday in the 1000-yard free with a time of 10:00.98, the avalanche of Orange and Black at DeNunzio never let up throughout the weekend and established both squads as the top teams heading into Eastern Championships in three weeks.

"I'm not sure if anyone can put into words [what happened this weekend]," senior captain Craig Wales said. "We were the last class to really know what it felt like to defeat Harvard (at HYPs in 1998) and wanted to make sure that we didn't leave Princeton without bringing that feeling back."

Underdogs entering the meet, the men's team knew that a victory over its most intense rival would require numerous upsets in a variety of events. But no one could have anticipated some of the times produced this weekend.

The team of Leahy, freshman Mike Salerno, sophomore Jesse Gage and senior Nathan Rebuck — the same group responsible for the aforementioned 400-yard relay — together provided a textbook example of what kind of swims were essential for the Tigers to come out victorious. In the second event of the meet — the 200 medley relay — this foursome established a new University and pool record with a time of 1:19.79, good for first place and the fourth-best time in the nation this season so far.

"Those guys really set the tone for the rest of the meet and got everyone fired up," senior captain Dennis Chang said.

After that relay, Princeton fans witnessed one impressive swim after another. The highlights began, however, with the performance of sophomore Carl Hessler. Starting off with a second-place finish in the 200 free (1:37.86), he topped that swim three events later with a pooland schoolrecord swim of 1:45.22 in the 200 fly, besting the old record by over two seconds. This time is also the fastest in the nation thus far this season.

Rounded out by a personal best of 4:23.70 in the 500 free, earning him second place, Hessler exemplified the go-for-broke Tiger effort that seemed to infect everyone, as Princeton kept on sneaking in seconds and thirds against Harvard when they were expected to finish 4th and 5th in almost every event.

Other standout swims were turned in by sophomore Garth Fealey, who finished first in both the 100 (55.16 - 6th in the nation) and 200 breaststroke (2:02.00), and by sophomore Jesse Gage, who won the 100 fly (47.87), the 50 free (20.14), and the 100 free (44.03). Though he came close to toppling records in each of these events, he did swim a schooland poolrecord 43.95 off a dead start in the first leg of the 400 free relay, breaking the record in a day he competed in three other races.

"We really worked [after the first night] to not get too over-confident and make clear to everyone that the meet had only just begun," Wales said. "We just knew that we couldn't let up at any point and made every race count."

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The intensity that defined the men's meet was just as prevalent earlier in the weekend, when the women's team lived up to their own expectations and routed both visitors handily right from the start.

"Last year gave our team the confidence we didn't have and we are swimming like that [at every meet]," head coach Susan Teeter said of Princeton's 2000 Ivy-League championship season. "We're no longer doubting that we can do it but always feeling that we can do anything."

Started off by Kukla's 1000 swim — which incidentally placed her 17th in the nation so far — it seemed early on that the Tigers were going to be unstoppable. In the very next event, Kukla followed her record setting time with an admirable third place finish in the 200 free. This swim, however, was eclipsed by a fellow Tiger, sophomore Ann-Marie Casperite. Casperite won the event with a time of 1:50.43, a personal best by a significant margin.

"That was simply one of the best emotional swims I've ever seen," Teeter said.

After that, just as it had in the men's meet, Princeton rolled over its competition in every race, especially in the back and breaststroke events. Sophomore Chrissy Holland claimed first place in both the 100 (1:04.95) and 200 breaststroke (2:19.68) while junior Kate Conroy took care of the backstroke events, winning both handily as well. But the Tiger depth in these events was even more impressive. In the four backstroke and breaststroke events, Princeton placed three swimmers in the top five against the best Harvard and Yale had to offer.

Adding to the litany of solid swims were Molly Seto first-place finish in the 100 fly (55.48) and second place in the 200 fly (2:03.48) as well as Conroy's win in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:04.81. Finally, diver Erin Lutz continued her consistency on the boards, bringing home victories in both the one and three-meter events. On top of the fact that in the first day alone 29 of the 35 Tiger swims were lifetime or personal bests, this illustrates perfectly how much of a complete team effort this victory was for the squad.

"We knew that we weren't content with our swims against Brown [earlier in the season] and we needed to send a message and that we did," Teeter said.

With momentum in their corner, both squads have their sights squarely set on the final prize of the season — an Eastern Championship for the men and an Ivy League Championship for the women.