Tigers' six-year H-Y-P streak snapped

The last time the Princeton women's swimming and diving team lost in Ivy League dual-meet competition, Bill Clinton was President, current senior captain Stephanie Hsiao was a freshman in high school and college students managed to procrastinate without thefacebook.com.

Princeton, Harvard and Yale gathered this past Friday and Saturday in a clash of three undefeated swimming powerhouses. History was made, at the Tigers' expense, as the Crimson became the first Ivy League team to beat Princeton since the 1997-1998 season.

Head coach Susan Teeter said before the meet, "Any time you get Princeton, Harvard and Yale in the same room you're going to have a great and exciting meet."

For six straight seasons Princeton was the team that generated the most excitement, as the Tigers consistently trounced the competition meet after meet.

But the tables turned Saturday as Harvard (10-0 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) beat Princeton (4-3, 3-1), 203-116, to remain undefeated and win the Ivy League dual-meet championship. The Tigers held on to beat Yale (record), 192-127, in the Bulldogs' home pool.

Yale's Robert Kiphuth Memorial Exhibition Pool is unique in that it is surrounded on all sides by stands that shoot 50 feet up at a 45-degree angle, like an arena. Princeton entered the historic pool knowing it would be a tough fight. Harvard quickly demonstrated the Tigers' fears were well-founded, taking an early lead on the first day of competition and winning six of the first nine events.

Junior Libby Engelmeier returned from an injury that has hampered her since the season's start to lead Princeton on Friday. She won the 1000-yard freestyle despite swimming it for the first time this season. Because she had no seed time, and it is such a long event, she initially swam in a slow heat that took place earlier in the day, while the faster swimmers swam at night. Despite the lack of challenging competition in her preliminary heat, she posted a time of 10:08.99, which was good enough to beat all the other swimmers in the later heats.

"Libby swam unbelievably," Hsiao said. "We're glad to have her back swimming strong."

Although the Tigers trailed by 33 points heading into the second day of competition, Hsiao gave the team a boost with a dominating win in the 100 free, which she called a "fun event," to start off the second day on the right note.

Senior teammate Amy Jones touched out a Harvard swimmer to claim second place and also took top honors in the 200-free. Freshman Brett Shiflett followed Jones in the 200-free to a second place finish.

"We tried to take it one event at a time and focus on that event," Hsiao said. "Even when the meet was lost, we wanted to keep swimming, to do the best we could do."

Hsiao lived up to her words, as she led another 1-2 Princeton finish in the 200-IM, the last individual event of the meet, even though the outcome was already decided. Freshman Lisa Hamming was second.

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Hsiao complimented the Crimson on a great competition, and she said that although Princeton put out a strong effort, "Harvard just swam faster."

Hundreds of Princeton swimmers, many of whom have graduated, were a part of the dominating streak, and it was hard to see it abruptly end.

"It was disappointing," Hsiao said. "All the people who graduate, you want to maintain [the streak] for their sake."

Although Princeton's reign of dominance has been momentarily suspended, Hsiao hopes the incoming freshmen will work to start a streak that will last even longer than six years.

Despite the loss to Harvard, the Tigers gained some satisfaction in defeating Yale in its home pool. Since the H-Y-P meet rotates, the hosting Bulldogs began the meet with extra motivation to come out on top. They will have to wait another three years, however for the chance to beat Harvard and Princeton at home. Additionally, the Tigers' victory over Yale kept Princeton second in the Ivy League standings, where it rests just behind the Crimson.

The Tigers will have a shot at revenge when they face Yale and Harvard again at Ivy League Championships next month.