'Big Al' memorialized at weekend men's swimming scrimmage

Missing the fun-loving character who once charmed his peers, the men's swimming and diving team memorialized Alan Ebersole '07 this past weekend by hosting the first Big Al Invitational, a scrimmage dedicated to Ebersole. Princeton swept the top spots in nearly every event in the unscored event.

In the scrimmage that assumed his nickname, "Big Al," the Tigers honored Ebersole, a Princeton swimmer who died Oct. 29, 2004. On an annual trip to Florida for an intense Fall Break training session, Ebersole drowned off the coast of Deerfield Beach, Fl. After leaving his beachside hotel with two friends, the sophomore had gone for a late-night swim in the ocean and drowned for unknown reasons.

Ebersole was a favorite among the swim team and became the editor of the swim team's alumni newsletter last fall.

The Big Al Invite saw five teams from the New England area come and swim in a friendly competition, mocking a real meet but without scored points.

Though the meet was unofficial, Princeton took the challenge seriously and saw strong swims throughout the two-day meet.

"The Big Al Invite was really a checkpoint for us as a team before heading into the bulk of our first-semester season," senior captain Alan Fishman said. "It's always useful to get up and race — that's something that needs to be practiced just like everything else."

Calling the Big Al Invite a serious meet against challenging competitors, the Tigers ended the meet with outstanding performances from every swimmer. Fans watched the meet and saw nothing less than Princeton domination.

By stacking the fast swimmers, Princeton finished a remarkable first and second in all four relays — 200-yard freestyle, 400-yd medley, 200-yd medley and 400-yd freestyle.

Even with the excitement of the relays, the individual events stimulated greater intensity, with the Tigers finishing first in more than half of the events.

In the 200-yd butterfly, the Tigers finished in eight of the top 10 places, and in both the 100-yd butterfly and 200-yd freestyle, the men finished in 10 of the top 16 places.

Junior Meir Hasbani was the star of the meet, finishing first in the 100-yd fly and 200-yd individual medley, second in the 400-yd IM and third in the 100-yd fly. Seniors Brian Shue, Sami-Mardem Bey, Will Reinhardt and Fishman all left the meet proudly, as each swam to a top-three finish in a number of events.

But for the experienced swimmers, this was just a refresher. The spotlight this past weekend was on the freshmen.

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With a challenging meet against Penn and Cornell just around the corner on this Friday, Nov. 18, the invitational was a final test for the freshmen. And several freshmen proved themselves in the pool on both Friday and Saturday.

Freshman Robert Griest endured the two longest races of the meet — the 1,650-yd freestyle, also known as the mile, and the 500-yd freestyle. Griest finished second and first, respectively, solidifying his position as one of the Tigers' most valued long-distance swimmers.

In the mid-distance swims, freshman Will Schaffer played the star, placing third in the 200-yd freestyle and 200-yd IM and second in the 100-yd freestyle.

With the freshmen swimming well and the older athletes improving their times, the Tigers seem ready to compete this weekend.

"Cornell is a tough team that's gotten better in the past years," Fishman said. "It's important for our goal of winning the dual meet championship that we come out ahead this weekend."

After last weekend's positive results, the men's team appears to be ready to officially kick off the season this weekend. Princeton will be hosting the Quakers and the Big Red at DeNunzio Pool. But despite this past weekend's solid performance, this next meet will provide a better measure of how the Tigers can swim with the pressure full-tilt.