Men's swimming wins EISL Championship

On the final day of the 2003 Eastern Interscholastic Swimming League Championships, Princeton suffered a heartbreaking ending to their previously perfect season. Beginning the day with a slight lead over rival Harvard, the Tigers saw their advantage and league title slowly evaporate. With three events left in this year's championships, it looked like history was going to repeat itself.

That is until freshman butterfly standout Meir Hasbani took to the blocks in the 200-yard butterfly, the third-to-last event at DeNunzio Pool, the site of this year's EISL Championships. Hasbani won the event by less than a quarter of a second, halted the Crimson comeback and cemented Princeton's second title in three years.

The Tigers won the meet with a combined total of 1,423 points, ahead of second-place Harvard and Columbia which finished third.

Although Hasbani's victory ensured the team's win, it was Princeton's consistency and depth that put the squad in position to win the title.

"This year we had the depth," junior Justin Chiles said. "We had a full squad that was capable of scoring in every event they participated in."

The Tigers got off to a strong start in the first event. The 200-yd. freestyle relay team of sophomore Will Reinhardt, juniors Chiles and Thorn Baccich, and senior Mike Salerno won the event by a tenth of a second over Navy and Harvard with a time of one minute, 20.97 seconds.

Reinhardt kept the momentum going in the fourth event, winning the 50-yd. freestyle with a time of 19.91 seconds.

A second-place Princeton finish in the 400-yd. medley relay wrapped up the first day of competition and gave Princeton a 67.5 point lead over Harvard, the defending champs.

The second day of competition was a testament to the Tigers' depth. Princeton finished the day with only one victory but extended its lead over the Crimson to 79 points.

The Tigers finished second, fourth, tenth, and fifteenth in the day's second event, the 1000-yd. freestyle.

One event later, the 400-yd. individual medley, the team captured four of the top eight positions, including a second-place finish for Hasbani. The Tigers continued their success, taking second places in both the 200-yd. freestyle and the 100-yd. breaststroke.

Princeton snapped its streak of second places by winning the final event of the day, the 800-yd. freestyle relay.

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The Tigers began the third and final day of competition with another individual victory. Freshman David Ashley won the 1650-yd. freestyle event by just two seconds, finishing in 15:30.44.

Reinhardt took his second victory of the meet in the 100-yd. individual freestyle, less then a second ahead of Salerno.

Hasbani's victory in 200-yd. butterfly and a Tiger second-place finish in the 400-yd. freestyle relay gave Princeton the points they needed to claim the overall title.

This year's EISL Championship capped off another successful season for the men's swimming and diving team.

"Entering the season, our number one priorities were defending DeNunzio for the Harvard-Yale-Princeton dual meet in January and then coming back and defending DeNunzio again for the EISL Championship," Salerno said. "We did both."