Men's swimming sinks No. 23 Pittsburgh at DeNunzio, 141-102

Princeton swimmers lined the pool deck, cheering loudly as senior Jeremy Tillman neared the finish, his arms and legs churning, side by side with a Pittsburgh swimmer in the final leg of the 400-yard medley relay. In the first men's event of the afternoon, Tillman out-touched Pittsburgh by half a second, and his teammates raised their arms in triumph. After the opening relay, the men's swimming and diving team didn't let up, posting a win over No. 23 Pittsburgh, 141-102, on Tuesday afternoon at DeNunzio Pool.

"The first relay set the tone," Tillman said. "We weren't expected to win [the relay], but we went [first and third]."

The women's team came up against a tough opponent in the Panthers, suffering a 213-87 loss, just its second of the season. After placing first and second in the opening 200-yd. medley relay, Pittsburgh continued its dominance throughout the meet.

The men were up against a team they had lost to in 2004, and the Tigers were determined to reverse the outcome.

"Last year we could've won, and we went home disappointed," Tillman said. "This time we were at our home pool, and it's important to us to keep the streak alive."

The Princeton men have not lost at DeNunzio since it was built in 1990. The men excelled against the Panthers in the freestyle events, posting wins in every one except the 1000-yd. distance. Sophomores Tim Ruse and Ryan Becker also contributed victories in the 200-yd. IM and 100-yd. fly, respectively.

"We expected a tough meet," Tillman said. "Guys stepped up even though they're in a tough period of training."

Senior Justin Chiles captured the team's first individual win of the meet, pulling away in the last 50 yards to win the 200-yd. free decisively, followed by sophomore teammate Mike Zee in second.

"We matched up well in the free, so we knew going into the meet we would have to win those events, as they had strong swimmers in the other strokes," Tillman said.

The Tigers continued their domination in the 50-yd. free, where they swept the top three spots. Junior Will Reinhardt won by a visible margin in an event usually settled by electronic timing.

Tillman returned to win the 100-yd. free in another close finish, winning by .03 seconds, and Chiles contributed a second victory in the 500-yd. free.

The Tigers ended their stellar showing with a bang in the 400-free relay, as Chiles, Tillman, Reinhardt and Becker teamed up to win the final event by three seconds.

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"If the meet is close we want to make sure our best team is out there in the last relay," Chiles said. "We expected the meet to be closer; this was our most challenging out of league meet this season."

The Princeton women did not fare as well as the men, as they struggled to even break into the top two in most events. Pittsburgh won 15 of 16 events en route to a dominating victory.

Senior Stephanie Hsiao was the lone winner for the Tigers, placing first in the 100-yd. free in 51.35 seconds. Senior Amy Jones placed second to Hsiao in the 100-yd. free, one of just four second-place finishes for the Tigers.