The men's and women's swimming teams opened their campaigns to defend their Ivy League titles this weekend in Philadelphia, Pa., with dominating performances over Penn and Cornell. The women competed on Friday, chalking up wins versus the Quakers, 205-95, and the Big Red, 201-97. The men dominated the pool on Saturday en route to a 180-62 rout of Penn and a 145-97 win against Cornell.
The Tigers then returned to face Rutgers on Sunday at home in DeNunzio Pool. The men's team remained undefeated with a 202-98 victory, but the women came up short, losing to the Scarlet Knights, 156.5-140.5, in what was only their second dual-meet loss in the last four years.
Senior Justin Chiles was a standout for the men on Friday, as he swam to victories in the 100-yard (45.98 seconds) and 200-yd. (1:40.88) freestyle events. Chiles was also a member of the Tigers' winning 400-yd. free relay. Sophomores Meir Hasbani and Mike Zee raced to victories in the 200-yd. individual medley (1:53.83) and 200-yd. backstroke (1:51.21), respectively.
Against Rutgers, Chiles, Hasbani and Zee opened up the meet with a victory in the 400-yd. medley relay, setting the tone for the dominant victory. Chiles also won the 200-yd. and 500-yd. free, while Hasbani placed first in the 200-yd. butterfly and 400-yd. IM. Freshman Seok Jun Lee was also a big contributor, winning the 100- and 200-yd. breaststroke races.
Four other Tigers claimed individual victories, as junior Alan Fishman took the 100-yd. back (51.79), junior Will Reinhardt the 50-yd. free (20.87), sophomore Ryan Becker the 100-yd. fly (50.80) and Zee the 200-yd. back (1:51.99).
The women's team was once again boosted by a stellar group of freshmen, as the team won nine of 15 events against Penn and Cornell. Freshman Lisa Hamming won two events, the 200-yd. free (1:54.30) and the 200-yd. IM in 2:07.11. In the freestyle, she was followed closely by classmate Brett Shiflett, and in the IM she edged out teammate — and defending Ivy League champion — senior Stephanie Hsiao.
Freshman Ellen Gray had a grueling but successful day, as she won the 1,000-yd. free (10:22.34) and placed second in the 500-yd. free (5:09.72).
Wins by juniors Sarah Schaffer and Kitsie Kerner also pushed the Tigers to victory, as they placed first and third, respectively, in the 100-yd. backstroke. Kerner came back to win the 200-yd. back, and Schaffer also won the 200-yd. breaststroke.
The Tigers returned home less than 24 hours later to fight Rutgers but fell short of the victory. Hamming was again impressive, displaying her versatility by winning the 200-yd. breaststroke and 200-yd. IM. She also had runner-up finishes in the 400-yd. IM and 400-yd. free relay.
After sweeping the 200-yd. IM with the efforts of Hamming, Hsiao and sophomore Kelly Hannigan, the Tigers pulled close to Rutgers. The meet came down to the last event, as firstand third-place finishes in the final 400-yd. free relay would guarantee a win for the Tigers. That did not happen, though, as Rutgers dominated, winning the race by three seconds.
Both the men's and women's teams will host the Princeton Invitational on Dec. 3 and 4.
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