Men's swimming and diving is tired of second place.
Actually, the Tigers been tired of second place for a while now — about six years.
Either Princeton or Harvard has won the Easterns title every year since 1973, but the Crimson have won the last six, and nine of the last 10. The Tigers say this every year, but it's worth repeating: in the 2001-2002 season, once again, the team's main goal is to return to the Easterns throne.
Coming out on top of Harvard is one of the few objectives left for a team that otherwise enjoys a lot of success, although they are unable to compete on a national level with the big-name programs. Last year, Princeton went undefeated in regular-season dual meets, with the best record in the league at 10-0.
The 2001 squad was so successful largely because it was well-rounded, with strong contributors from every class and a number of events.
This year's team is similarly balanced, returning most of last year's strengths — the Tigers graduated only two seniors who scored at Easterns — and adding a few from a strong freshman class. With seven school record-holders on the roster and plenty of inspiration, the team is looking forward to another good year.
"Our number one objective this season is to try and defeat Harvard and win the Eastern conference title," senior tri-captain Shandon Quinn said. "And to do that we have a lot of things to inspire us, so to speak: one being the momentum from the undefeated dual meet season that we had last year, and secondly, we have dedicated the season to our fallen teammate Matt Weiner, who was a member of the class of 2002 and would have been a senior this year."
Weiner passed away during his freshman year while playing basketball.
The team's forte is freestyle relays and sprints, with a number of returning swimmers leading the pack. Last year's record-setting relay team — junior Jesse Gage, sophomore Mike Salerno, senior tri-captain Nathan Rebuck, and junior Jamie Leahy — are all back, after setting school records in the 200 and 400 relays, taking first in the 400 and second in the 200 at Easterns, and earning all-Ivy honors along the way. This year, the relay team could do even better: their success at Easterns came even without an appendicitis-stricken Leahy, who was replaced at that competition by junior Carl Hessler in the 400 and Craig Wales '01 in the 200.
Gage and Hessler are also strong performers in the butterfly. They hold school records for the 100 and 200, respectively, and competed in these events at the NCAA national meet last March. They are joined by sophomore Juan Pablo Valdivieso, who made the finals heat in the 200 fly at this summer's United States Swimming National Championships.
Distance freestyle is keyed by senior Kevin Volz, who holds the Princeton record in the 1000 free. Freshman Justin Chiles of Moraga, Ca., will help fill in the gaps, adding depth in mid-distance free, sprints, and relays — he has posted the team's third fastest preseason 200 free time.
Freshmen are also largely responsible for improving the team's lineup of breaststrokers and divers. Evan Delaney of Atlanta, Ga., has the fastest preseason time in the 200 breaststroke and the second-fastest in the 100, lending some depth to a group led by sophomore Garth Fealey, who won both breaststroke events at last year's Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet. Freshmen Kent De Mond of Potomac, Md., and Nick Lee of Gold River, Calif., are expected to add points from the platform, along with returning NCAA zone qualifier sophomore Michael Sullivan.
"[In] diving, just adding two more bodies helps substantially," Orr said.
Finally, in backstroke, the Tigers can count on junior Pat Donohue and sophomore Pat Fleming, both of whom posted top-five finishes at Easterns, and senior Chris Cunningham, who holds the school record in the 200 event.
Orr could only name one major weakness. "200 [individual medley] is kind of a thorn in our side, but we're striving to improve on that and we can utilize sprinters always in all the events."
The Tigers lack some of the strength in the medleys that they enjoy in some other areas of competition — last year's IMers did no better than 4th at Easterns and the team has graduated its 400 IM record-holder Matt Harrigan '01. Still, Cunningham, senior tri-captain Matt Keay, and junior Paul Cremer have all posted top-ten times for Princeton swimmers in IM events, and with possible contributions from Valdivieso, sophomore Chester Yarbrough, and freshman Thorn Baccich, there is clear potential for improvement in this area.
"Overall [the team] is a fairly well-balanced group, which is good," Orr said.
Valdivieso, who represented Peru in the 2000 Olympics, perhaps symbolizes the team's balance. Last year, he turned in top-three finishes in four events, ranging from distance free to sprint fly; this year, he is again expected to be a versatile performer.
With strong representation in freestyle and butterfly, solid backstrokers, and much improved breaststrokers and divers, this year's team may have a chance to finally stem Harvard's Crimson tide.
"Ideally, that would be what we would like to strive to accomplish."
Orr said, "and we've got the makings of a good team and have the potential to do just that, but only time will tell."
The Tigers begin their season this Friday in Philadelphia with a double-dual meet against Penn and Cornell.
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