Men fall to Cornell in first dual meet

The men's swimming and diving team split its first Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League meet of the season, prevailing over Penn, 243-57, but falling to Cornell, 140-160, in Ithaca, N.Y. The Big Red captured first place in 12 of the 16 events.

Sophomore Rob Griest led a 1-2-3-4 Princeton finish in the1,000 freestyle with a time of nine minutes, 34.02 seconds. Sophomore Will Schaffer was the first of three consecutive Tigers in the 200 IM, winning the event in 1:53.32.

Princeton swept the two diving events, with freshmen Michael Papageorge and Daniel Dickerson going one-two on the one-meter board, while junior Stuart Malcolm captured the three-meter contest.

The Tigers placed highly in all the events, including second-place finishes by freshman Jon Hartmann, senior co-captain Mike Zee, sophomore Doug Lennox and junior Seok Jun Lee.

"We were really happy about how we swam," senior co-captain Meir Hasbani said. "We didn't give up even when it became clear that things weren't going our way."

While Cornell captured first place in most of the events, it was Princeton's depth that made the meet close and will ultimately help the Tigers in the large conference meets later in the season, while Cornell, with its dual meet defeats of both Princeton and Harvard, will make a strong run for the dual meet crown.

"[Cornell] will probably win the dual meet championship," Hasbani said. "They really put it all on the line, but Easterns is much more important to us."

Women sweep meet

The No. 25 women's swimming and diving team defeated Cornell, 212-83, and Penn, 157-138, in Ithaca. Freshman sensation Alicia Aemisegger continued her already impressive season, setting pool and school records in the 400 IM.

Princeton came out of the gates fast with a four-second win in the 200 medley relay, paced by senior Kelly Hannigan, Aemisegger, sophomore Justina DiFazio and senior Sobenna George.

Aemisegger immediately followed with her 17-second pool record performance in the 400 IM of 4:11.32, leading a 1-2-3-4 finish for the Tigers. Just as soon as she stepped out of the pool, Aemisegger got back in to win her third event in a row, the 200 freestyle, in 1:51.85.

Aemisegger's brilliant swimming, however, was only part of an overall strong performance by Princeton. By the final two events of the meet, the Tigers stopped adding points to their overall score but still swam the events as exhibition.

Recording were DiFazio in the 100 freestyle, senior Lisa Hamming in the 200 breaststroke, junior Ellen Gray in the 500 freestyle, Hannigan in the 100 butterfly, and sophomore Katie Giarra in the three-meter dive.

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Princeton also showcased a superior depth to its opponents, finishing 1-4 in the 200 breaststroke and 400 IM, while taking spots 2-4 in the 200 butterfly.