Men's Swimming and Diving: No. 6 Gators almost fall in Big Al

The Big Al Open, which has the same format as the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL) Championships and NCAAs, has traditionally been a barometer for Princeton (3-0 overall, 3-0 EISL) as the team enters a new year. In 14 of the 18 swimming events in which they competed, the Tigers topped their times from last year’s EISL Championships, a meet for which everyone was tapered and shaved.

“This meet as a whole has been so fast for us, with so many of us going best times in season,” senior tri-captain Will Schaffer said. “For example, [junior] A.J. Kennedy broke [one minute, 50 seconds] for the first time in the 200-yard back, [senior tri-captain Doug] Lennox and his 200 free time and just a bunch of other guys who are doing great.”

The only member who rested in preparation for the meet was Olympian Lennox, Princeton’s top scorer of the meet. Lennox set five Princeton records and three pool records, some of which were more than 15 years old. He collected an NCAA A-cut in the 200-yard butterfly. Along with the A-cut, Lennox took home three B-cuts and currently has the most cuts on the season of any swimmer on the team. Lennox placed first in all eight of his events.

Sophomore Colin Hanna also had a couple of personal-best swims this weekend, coming up big with a Princeton record and an NCAA B-cut in both the 500-yard freestyle and the 400-yard individual medley (IM). He also beat his EISL Championships times in the 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard IM by several seconds. Not only were his performances all-time bests, some also came in back-to-back races — the 200 IM, for instance, kicked off just minutes after the 500 free. Freshman Travis McNamara actually held the 500-free record briefly, breaking the previous standard a few minutes before Hanna set a new University record.

The Tigers started the action-packed weekend Friday afternoon with the 200-free relay. The team of Lennox, senior Michael Carter, sophomore Geoff Faux and freshman Colin Cordes posted an NCAA B-cut and winning time of 1:20.35. Carter’s time in the 50-yard free was also faster than his time in last year’s EISLs.

Saturday also saw some fast times. Hanna ran away with the 400 IM record, and Tigers posted great times in the 100-yard breaststroke, in which freshman Jon Christensen posted the second-fastest time in the finals, 55.87 seconds. This was more than two seconds faster than the top Princeton time at EISLs last season.

Senior Dan Eckel also posted a lifetime best in the 200-yard fly, earning an NCAA B-cut and staking his claim as the favorite at the championship meet later this season.

“I think this meet shows that we’re pretty damn good,” head coach Rob Orr said. “It shows our depth and the versatility of a lot of our freshmen, which is a good thing.”

The divers also had impressive performances, as juniors Dan Dickerson and Michael Papageorge led the way for the Tigers. Dickerson was the top scorer of the meet for the divers, posting top-eight finishes in both the one- and three-meter events.

The Tigers will now shift gears as they enter a hard month of training, returning early from winter break to prepare for the Dartmouth dual meet at the end of January.