M. swimming overwhelms Golden Knights in last meet

The regular season came to an end for the men's swimming team this weekend. Fortunately, the ending was a good one.

The team, which was recently ranked No. 22 in the nation by the latest polls, dominated Army on Saturday in West Point, NY, taking the meet by a score of 190-109.

The headliner of the meet was senior Juan Valdivieso, who continued with what has been a very strong final season. He was once again a dual winner in the meet, taking first in both the 200 meter freestyle and the 200m individual medley.

Although Valdivieso swam well, he was not the only Princeton swimmer to achieve success in the meet.

As a team, the Tigers won 11 races, including both relays. Freshman Mike Zee won the 200m backstroke and finished second behind teammate Valdivieso in the 200m freestyle.

With top finishes in the 200m freestyle, individual medley, and backstroke, Princeton looked to complete the 200m sweep with a win in both the butterfly and the breaststroke.

Due to the efforts of senior Chester Yarbrough and junior Jeremy Tillman, the Tigers had no problem completing the sweep. Yarbrough took the crown in the butterfly and Tillman did the same in the breast.

In the shorter races, junior Evan Delaney won the 100m breast while senior Mike Salerno took first in the 100m freestyle. Junior Thorn Baccich won the 100m butterfly.

Freshman Ryan McCabe did his part in the long distance events, taking the 500m freestyle.

Not to be overshadowed by the individual victories, the relay teams also were highly successful in the meet. In fact, they were so successful that in both events, Princeton took both first and second place. This was possible because the Tigers entered both an 'A' team and a 'B' team.

In both events, those being the 200m medley and the 400m freestyle, the 'A' team came out on top. The 200m medley was actually one of the closest races of the meet, as the 'A' team came in with a time of 1:35:15 and the 'B' team came in right behind them with a time of 1:35:43.

The victory brought the team's overall dual meet record to an impressive 9-1, the only loss coming to powerhouse Pittsburgh.

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Perhaps more meaningful than the overall record is the team's record at DeNunzio, a perfect 6-0. This is important because the upcoming Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championships are being held at DeNunzio in three weeks.

The Tigers are comfortable heading into the meets and even more so after a strong showing in the Army dual.

"After winning this weekend, the sights are now definitely set on the Easterns," Delaney said, "and it'll be nice to get some rest these next couple of weeks.