Cal's Coughlin steals show at Princeton Invitational

Most fans present at DeNunzio Pool this weekend were there to cheer on the women's and men's swimming teams as both competed in the Princeton Invitational. And while the men swept the competition, and the women did well, finishing in second place, one swimmer stole the show.

Natalie Coughlin, a swimmer from the University of California-Berkeley — arguably the nation's best collegiate swimmer and all but a shoe-in on the United States Olympic team — swept all eight events she swam in. In the words of junior Stephanie Hsiao, Coughlin "broke the pool record in just about every event she swam."

Most notable was Coughlin's 51.36 second finish in the 100-yard backstroke. More than seven seconds under the old record, Coughlin's time cut through the previous DeNunzio standings.

"It was incredible to watch someone so fast," Love said. "Basically it was like watching next year's Olympics in our pool."

As a team, the Tigers finished with 841 points, second to California's 1022 points but firmly ahead of their next competitor, Rutgers, which finished at 554. Having easily handled all but one of its opponents and gaining confidence in team depth, Princeton looked at the meet as a quiet but solid success.

The only swimming event in which Princeton took first place, the 100-yard breaststroke, was also won by Hsiao, who finished in a time of 1:02:90.

Freshman diver Michelle DeMond also took first place for Princeton in the oneand three-meter diving contests.

Among other Princeton swimmers, senior Sarah Fraumann took a solid fourth place in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:33:25 and fifth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:52:38. Hsiao took a strong fourth place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:05:11 and duplicated her fourth-place effort in the 200-yard breaststroke, clocking in with a time of 2:19:14. With Demond's exceptional performance and the impressively fast times logged by several key swimmers, Princeton was incredibly pleased with the individual performances of its own swimmers, even though they did not take the lead in many events.

"There were several lifetime-best swims," Hsiao said. "For the most part this meet tends to be a turning point in the season. People swimming their personal bests bodes very well for the rest of the year."

The Tigers weren't at all upset about the intense competition brought by California, but rather welcomed such talent.

"Having the California team there was an excellent opportunity to just race people," Hsiao said. "You have world record holders like Natalie Coughlin there. How often do you get to race against a world record holder?"

In addition, the incredible pressure brought by California pushed Princeton to swim some of its fastest times as well during this telling midseason tournament.

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"Everyone in the stands was talking about the Cal girls pumping up the level of racing," Love said. "Consolation times this year could have won the meet last year. The swimming was that fast."

More memorable than the specific events and times, however, was the charged atmosphere throughout the entire meet and the display of team spirit.

"There was incredible team sprit during these races," Love said. "There was uproarious cheering whenever the records were broken. There was a lot of respect for everybody's team. It was an amazing experience."

With the busy weekend behind them, the Tigers will leave this impressive exhibition and head home for the holidays, toting back their satisfying success in little turquoise-blue medal boxes. Having played host to the country's best, Princeton will hopefully return to its upcoming competitions with the experience and confidence it needs in order to win another title and prove that it truly is the best team in the Ivy League.