Men's swimming picks up three convincing Ivy League victories

Like the blockbuster "Harry Potter" adaptation, men's swimming and diving had a solid opening weekend.

On Friday, the Tigers traveled to Philadelphia for a double-dual meet, in which they easily defeated Penn 177-66 and Cornell 172-71.

Sunday, Princeton was back on the road, headed for Providence, R.I., where they outswam Brown 198-89.

With these wins, the Tigers extended their undefeated dual-meet streak, which goes back to 1999, to 14-0. The weekend also marked a personal achievement for head coach Rob Orr. Already the winningest coach in school history with a 199-23 dual-meet record going into the season, this weekend's wins put him past the 200 mark as he began his 23rd season at Princeton.

Orr's reaction to that milestone was characteristically modest: "If you stay around long enough, basically anything can happen. My good fortune of being still around here is the only reason that came about."

First-place performances in a number of events put the Tigers over the top. At both meets, junior Jesse Gage took first in the 100 freestyle and 50 freestyle and sophomore Steve Fleming won the 200 backstroke.

In Philadelphia, junior Carl Hessler won the 200 free and 500 free, sophomore Juan Pablo Valdivieso won the 1000 free and 200 butterfly and sophomore Chester Yarbrough won the 200 individual medley. Two freshmen, in their first intercollegiate contest, also took first-place honors against Penn and Cornell - Evan DeLaney won the 200 breaststroke, and Kent DeMond took first in three-meter diving.

At Brown, the Tigers dominated the 100 breast, as junior Garth Fealey took first, followed by freshman Jeremy Tillman in second and DeLaney in third. Fealey also won the 200 breast. Hessler won the 200 fly, and Princeton also got a win from its 200 medley relay team.

Penn, Cornell, and Brown, however, are not exactly the cream of the Ivy League crop. At last year's Easterns, Cornell and Penn were eighth and ninth respectively, and Brown was fourth. It remains to be seen how this year's team will match up against perennial rival Harvard.

"We still need improvement," Orr said, "[but] overall we're pretty well-balanced this year, which is good."

"I think this weekend we showed a lot of depth by not only winning most events, but by going one-two or one-three in them as well," DeLaney said. "We are going to take the momentum we have [from] these meets into future meets."

The team gets back in the pool Dec. 2 when it hosts the Princeton Invitational, though a few swimmers will represent Princeton at the U.S. Open, Nov. 29-Dec. 1.