Tigers to play host to EISL championship

We must protect this house — that has been the mantra of the men's swimming and diving team since that house was built. It has certainly worked to this point, as no rival has ever defeated the Tigers at DeNunzio Pool in a dual meet.

The Tigers (7-2 overall, 6-2 Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League) may be undefeated in dual meets at home, but their EISL rivals will converge on DeNunzio Pool Thursday to vie for a different type of meet — the league championship.

The Tigers' perfect home record was not enough to secure the dual-meet title this season, which went Cornell, whom Princeton lost to by a score of 140-160 in November. The Big Red finished the season undefeated overall, while the Tigers also suffered a loss to Navy.

Harvard and Yale were also undefeated in the Ivy League until they came to DeNunzio for the HYP meet in the beginning of February, but both lost to Princeton in its home environment. The Tigers hope that the pool will drown Cornell's streak as well.

"Hopefully we'll make a contest out of it," head swimming coach Rob Orr said. "All we can hope for is that everyone is healthy and everyone swims well. Other than that, it just comes down to mathematics. We've been focusing on the conference championship all along, and having it at DeNunzio is a good thing — they swim well here."

After first-place Cornell, Harvard and Princeton tied for second in the league with two losses, while Yale finished in third at 5-3. Rounding out the field are Navy, Columbia, Brown, Penn and Dartmouth. Last year, Princeton used its depth to take home the championship title without winning a single event. It was the third time in the past five years that the Tigers took home the championship.

"Our team has great depth," senior Meir Hasbani said. "We definitely have some holes in our lineup, and our relays aren't as strong as they were a few years ago, but I am confident that the guys on this team will step up and fill those holes in much the way that they did at HYPs. Our goal is to win Easterns, and anything less would be a disappointment."

Unlike home dual meets, in which everyone can swim, each team is allowed to field just 18 competitors at the EISL championship, with divers counting as one-third of a competitor because they participate in fewer events. Princeton will include six divers in the championships — the most in more than 20 years.

Since the team's depth is its strength, the limit on athletes is disadvantageous for the Orange and Black.

"We have a lot of other talent that is not part of the 18-man squad limit that would still fare well in the meet," Orr said. "Still, we are pretty well-balanced in all the events, and we have a lot of participants in the individual medleys and the butterfly."

The Tigers' depth helped them win the HYP meet this year while claiming only three individual victories. The team will also be relying on the divers more than usual, as they will make up a significant part of Princeton's squad this year.

"The [diving] team has prepared well for this year's championship," head diving coach Gregory Gunn said. "They have been performing at championship levels throughout the year. We hope to contribute measurably to an overall victory."

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Two of the divers who are competing in the EISLs this year, junior Stuart Malcolm and sophomore Charlie Razook, competed in last year's championships as well. Malcolm will compete in both the one-meter diving event, in which he placed 10th last year, and three-meter diving event, in which he finished seventh. Razook is returning to the three-meter event, in which he placed fifth last year. They will be joined by sophomores Yarden Fraiman and Drew Wallace and freshmen Daniel Dickerson and Mikey Papageorge.

"The championship competition environment is unique," Gunn said. "There are a number of competition elements which are not replicated in the daily training situation, but which are built into the championship-level competition — more time between dives, more competitors, evaluation by judges and physical and mental readiness issues. Being able to remain mentally focused and emotionally confident are just some of the challenges associated with being able to perform in the championship competition environment."

Of course, the EISLs are not the end of the road. Last year, two Tigers — Hasbani and senior diver Kent DeMond — qualified for the NCAA Championships and achieved All-America honors. Orr hopes to send even more representatives to Minneapolis this March.

For now, Orr has his eyes on Cornell, Harvard, Yale and Columbia, whom he sees as Princeton's major competitors, even though only Cornell and Navy have beaten Princeton this season. But in the end, the Tigers are only racing against the clock.

"I have a feeling if we get our times down close to zero, we'll be successful," Orr joked.