The men's and women's swimming and diving teams did more than just swim with Penn State this weekend — they raced them until the very end. From Friday morning until Sunday evening, the Tigers defended their house, with both teams staying in second place through the entire meet. Each fell only to perennial powerhouse Penn State (4-0 overall) at the Big Al Open.
But over a weekend full of big finishes for the Tigers, perhaps the biggest had nothing to do with the Open.
Competing at the American Short Course Championships, junior Doug Lennox, Princeton's only returning Ivy League champion, gave the performance of a lifetime. He qualified for the Puerto Rican Olympic team with a fifth-place finish and was only a second behind the first-place finisher — the one and only Michael Phelps, a six-time Olympic gold medalist.
Women thrive on little rest
Princeton's No. 26 women's team (4-0) went into the Open on Friday morning with hardly any rest, having just finished two solid weeks of hard training the night before.
The No. 11 Nittany Lions, on the other hand, had rested in hopes of making a handful of NCAA qualifying times throughout the weekend. But from any angle Friday night, the Tigers' fatigue was unnoticeable as they held their ground against the Nittany Lions.
"Penn State was rested, but we were still racing them," women's head coach Susan Teeter said. "Being able to race some of those girls is incredible and it makes me happy that we were able to get up and race with them."
All-American sophomore Alicia Aemisegger dominated Penn State's Kelly Nelson in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing four seconds under the NCAA "A" cut and six seconds ahead of Nelson.
Aemisegger would go on to set a pool record in the 1,650-yard freestyle with another automatic NCAA qualifying time.
Immediately following Aemisegger's first-place finish, Ivy League champion sophomore Courtney Kilkuts had a battle of her own in the 200-yard individual medley against Penn State's Kaitlin O'Brien, who had already qualified for the NCAA in the morning preliminaries.
With 25 yards to go, O'Brien came from behind, out-touching Kilkuts by .3 seconds. Both swimmers were over three seconds ahead of the remaining field.
Regardless, second place was good enough — Kilkuts posted a lifetime best and broke a University record with her automatic NCAA qualifying time of one minute, 59.10 seconds.
Kilkuts finished the meet by winning the Big Al award, given to the swimmer who shows superior dedication to the sport of swimming and diving and is an inspiration to teammates.
Senior Ellen Gray also swam a personal best this weekend, finishing the 500-yard freestyle in 4:52.7, fast enough to make the NCAA "B" cut.
Other notable swims came from junior Justina DiFazio with a "B" cut in the 200-yard freestyle, freshman Meredith Monroe with a "B" cut in the 500-yard freestyle and junior Monika Friedman, who missed her "B" cut in the 200-yard butterfly by .3 seconds.
Freshman Ming Ong will also try to push off this weekend's success as she travels to Malaysia, hoping to qualify for the Malaysian Olympic Team in the 400-meter freestyle.
Men trounce Ivy foes
The Princeton men ended their weekend on a high note as well, posting top performances all around in a preview of what's to come in this year's championship.
"We always use this meet as a dry run for ECACs, and we ended up with some really good times," senior tri-captain Mike Baity said. "The entire team really stepped up, which was really nice to see."
While No. 19 Penn State gave the Tigers their toughest competition, the Princeton men stood strong as they took on and defeated Ivy League opponents Brown and Columbia, along with Pittsburgh, Rider and Bucknell.
"The guys, with modest rest, ended up coming up with some good swims, season bests and a handful of lifetime bests," men's head coach Rob Orr said.
Junior Dan Eckel and freshman Colin Hanna had amazing swims, with Eckel posting a "B" cut in the 200-yard butterfly for a second-place finish. Hanna pulled out a dramatic come-from-behind finish, powering past Columbia's Ced Cheung-Lau. Freshman Patt Bigs also grabbed two "B" cuts.
Both men's and women's diving teams also played a large role in the strong weekend performance, with two Tiger divers qualifying for the NCAA Zone regionals.
Junior Peggy Kearns won the platform event with 231.15 points, while senior Stuart Malcolm also won the platform competition with a final score of 357.39 points.
The Tigers resume competition in late January, as they head toward Hanover, N.H., with an Ivy League matchup against Dartmouth.
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