Two men's swimmers place in top 40 at NCAAs

Last weekend the Nassau County (N.Y.) Aquatic Center was filled with tension, excitement, broken records and guys in Speedos. The Aquatic Center was the site of this year's NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, which hosted 235 of the nation's fastest swimmers, including Princeton freshman Meir Hasbani and sophomore Will Reinhardt.

"There are no short cuts to getting there," Hasbani said of the road to the championship. "You can't just rely on talent. You have to work hard, as did the whole team, and I just lucked out that I qualified."

The team's hard work certainly paid off this season, with the Tigers clinching two big in-house victories and overcoming Harvard at H-Y-Ps and the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming League Championships, in which Reinhardt and Hasbani played instrumental roles.

"This is the first time we won both H-Y-Ps and Easterns in a while, and we had to rely on Willie and Meir to step it up big time," sophomore Travis Knop said.

Reinhardt shined at EISLs with a pair of individual wins in the 100-meter freestyle and the 50m free.

"Willie is like Superman," Knop said. "All season he's like Clark Kent; he works hard and does well, but at H-Y-Ps and Easterns he puts on the cape and kicks ass."

Hasbani also earned key victories in both meets including clinching the overall win in the 200m butterfly at EISLs.

"We gave it to Harvard pretty good this year," Hasbani said.

Their standout performances at H-Y-Ps and Easterns contributed to their invitations to NCAAs, although both Tigers were invited to attend based on their consideration times. This simply means that they did not make the 'A' cut, by swimming below the time set by the NCAA.

"I was just so excited to be there," Hasbani said of his NCAA debut. "Nothing compared to how fast that meet was. I can't even describe it. There are so many people in the stands cheering. Everyone is so pumped up to swim and to be there."

The NCAA Championships began on Thursday, with Reinhardt placing 36th in the 50m free with a time of 22.44 seconds.

The following day, Hasbani competed in the 400m individual medley, finishing in 4:22, earning 27th place.

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Saturday, both of the Tigers were in action. Reinhardt earned 44th place in the 100m free with a time of 50.11 seconds and Hasbani finished No. 22 in the 200m fly with a time of 1:58.92 seconds.

"The two of them have been a strong addition to the team with Meir coming out strong as only a freshman and Reinhart pretty much coming out of nowhere this season," senior Hallett Johnson said.

The meet, which saw eight world records broken as well as 11 American records, was a good experience for the Tigers.

"Being in a meet like that is truly a great experience, and hopefully they'll provide the necessary leadership for the team in coming years. The future looks bright," Johnson said.