Men's swimming makes easy work of Columbia

Senior Day at DeNunzio Pool was just another day at the office for the swim team.

On Friday, as the men's swimming team celebrated the ample accomplishments of the senior class, Princeton put the icing an immaculate regular season. The Tigers easily dismissed Columbia (6-4), 164-107, to finish 9-0.

Midway through the meet, the Princeton paused to honor the class of 2003. Younger team members wrote biographies for the seniors, which were read aloud to the appreciative crowd, containing many of the seniors' parents.

"Some speeches were more eloquent than others," head coach Rob Orr said with a smile. "We gave the seniors a good send-off."

In contrast to the lighthearted atmosphere of the senior ceremony, the Tigers were all business in the pool. The meet was a blowout from the beginning, as Princeton claimed gold in the first seven events.

Although senior Jesse Gage was the lone dual-winner, eight other Princeton swimmers also won events. Gage easily won both the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle, in addition to finishing second in the 200-yard butterfly.

Junior Stephen Fleming was the first winner of the day for the Tigers, in the 100-yard backstroke. Senior Garth Fealey then followed with an easy win in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Princeton's run continued, as Gage's two golds sandwiched wins from sophomore Brian Ellis and junior Juan Valdivieso, in the 1000- and 200-yard freestyle respectively.

Sophmore Greg Glass then added a three-plus second victory in the 200-yard individual medley, bringing the score to 105-27.

Orr singled out Glass, who also took second in the 100-yard breaststroke, as one of the team's most impressive performers of the day. Glass was one of the many younger swimmers on the team who will not be swimming at Eastern Championships, yet still raced hard in their last meet of the season.

"The young guys learned a lot about themselves and their tapers," Orr said. "That's the good thing about meets after the H-Y-P."

Columbia finally won an event — three-meter diving — but the Tigers still took second, third, and fourth. Freshman Brian Shue got the Tigers back on track, winning the 200-yard butterfly, as Princeton swept the top three spots in a race for the sixth time on the day.

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After Columbia won the 100-yard freestyle, juniors Kevin Weiner and Chester Yarbrough were victorious in the 200-yard backstroke and 500-yard freestyle respectively, stretching the Tigers' lead to 164-63.

With the outcome of the meet no longer in doubt, Princeton elected to effectively forfeit the final three races of the day to avoid running up the score. The Tiger competitors in the 1-m diving, 200-y breaststroke, and 200-y freestyle relay events were entered as "exhibition" swimmers, meaning Princeton did not receive points for their finishes. Princeton did in fact take first in all three events, brining their unofficial win total to 13 for the day.

With the victory over the Lions, the team clinched the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League dual meet championship for the second time in three years. The perfect season was the 14th in team history. Nine of those have come under Orr.

Earlier in the week, Princeton entered the national top-25 poll. The No. 23 ranking comes in recognition of the impressive win over Harvard and Yale. The Tigers were last ranked in the 2000-2001 season, just after winning that year's H-Y-P.

The senior day festivities and honor of a national ranking by no means indicate the Tigers are finished with their work. Each year, Princeton strives to accomplish the "triple crown." The first step requires a H-Y-P meet triumph en route to the EISL regular season title. With that first challenge now completed, the swimmers turn their attention to their second and third hurdles: a title at the EISL championships and strong scoring at NCAA finals.

As the seniors filed out of DeNunzio after their last home victory, Orr was already returning to work, meeting with a recruit. The present is indeed a time of wealth and prosperity for Tiger swimming, but neither Orr's job nor the class of 2003's mission is complete just yet.