They just got a little bit more crowded.
The men finished the season second behind Harvard in the 10-member Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL) — which includes the eight Ivy League schools, Army and Navy — despite losing All-Americans Meir Hasbani ’07 and Kent Demond ’07 to graduation last spring. The men have now placed either first or second in the EISL in 35 of the last 36 seasons.
The women, the preseason Ivy League favorite, exceeded expectations this season, in what women’s head coach Susan Teeter described as “the best year we’ve ever had.” Indeed, Teeter’s squad utterly dominated the Ivy League this season. After going undefeated in Ivy League dual meet competition, the women won their third-consecutive league title. The team has now won eight of the last nine Ivy League championships.
“We swam as well as we hoped we would and we thought we could,” Teeter said.
The nationally ranked Tigers trounced Harvard in the Ivy League Championships, held at DeNunzio Pool, 1,651.5 to 1,494. Columbia finished a distant third with 1,016 points. Princeton won 12 of the meet’s 21 events.
Senior Lisa Hamming finished first in the 400 individual medley, and senior Brett Shiflett took first in both the 100 and 200 freestyle. Junior Monika Friedman held off Harvard’s Kate Mills to win the 200 butterfly and then cruised to victory in the 100 butterfly.
But sophomore Olympic hopeful Alicia Aemisegger stole the show. She won all three individual events she enetered, setting Princeton records each time.
In total, seven Tiger women qualified for the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio.
At the NCAAs, Aemisegger again took charge, finishing fourth in the 400 IM, fourth in the 500 freestyle and eighth in the 1,650 freestyle. Still, Aemisegger thinks she could have done better.
“I was really happy with my times, but [I] got sick right before NCAAs,” Aemisegger said. “So I didn’t do exactly what I wanted there, so I was a little disappointed.”
But Aemisegger certainly was not disappointed with the team’s overall performance, which she described as “really impressive.” She credits the team’s close-knit, supportive atmosphere for this year’s improved individual and team results.
“Everyone was really driven this year,” Aemisegger said. “I thought everyone was a lot closer this year, which created more NCAA times and a better performance.”
Teeter estimates that her swimmers set personal records in 98 percent of the events they competed in this year, compared to 75 percent in a normal year.
“We’re just really excited about what we’ve accomplished this season,” Teeter said. “And we look forward to keeping the tradition alive in the future.”
For the men, the season was a qualified success. Though the team lived up to expectations of a second-place EISL finish and went undefeated in dual meets at DeNunzio Pool, head coach Rob Orr was somewhat disappointed in his team’s overall performance.
“We just didn’t hit the times we needed to hit,” Orr said.
Orr had hoped that his squad would knock off Harvard at the EISL Championships in March. Instead, the Crimson ran away with the title, trouncing the Tigers 1,564 to 1,208.5.
“We got kind of embarrassed by Harvard, but to be honest, it was their year,” junior Doug Lennox said. “In order to beat them, we pretty much had to have a perfect meet, and we didn’t. [The junior class] had never lost conference, so that was pretty hard for us.”
Still, several individuals’ performances this season exceeded expectations. At the EISL Championships, junior Will Schaffer finished second in the 200 IM, second in the 200 backstroke and third in the 400 IM. Freshman Geoff Faux took third in the 50 freestyle, won the 200 butterfly and finished second in 100 butterfly. Sophomore diver Michael Papageorge took second place in the three-meter dive. Lennox and senior diver Stuart Malcolm qualified for the NCAA Championships in Seattle.
Lennox placed fourth at NCAAs in the 200 butterfly with a time of one minute, 42.80 seconds. Lennox fourth-place showing earned him All-American honors.
“I definitely exceeded my expectations in both my major events [the 100 and 200 yard butterflies] this year,” said Lennox, who heads to Beijing this summer to represent Puerto Rico in the Olympics. “By extending my rest period [before NCAAs], I was able to drop my times.”
Malcolm also competed at the event, but did not make the cutoff for the finals.
The men look to do better next season, thanks in part to one of the nation’s top incoming recruiting classes.
“Last season was a building block for next year,” Lennox said. “We want to establish a dynasty.”
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