The No. 21 men’s swimming and diving team staged a comeback at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool on Sunday evening, overcoming a six-point deficit to defeat Harvard (6-1 Ivy League) 193-160 and Yale (3-3) 253-100. Princeton (6-0) also defeated Dartmouth (0-6) earlier in the week.
The Tigers had impressive performances from the entire team, earning three new school records and two Blodgett Pool records. Trailing the Crimson after the first day of competition, Princeton used its deficit as motivation to come back strong the following day.
“We had many guys step up and show true grit and determination in these events,” senior Olympian and tri-captain Doug Lennox said. “And on a day that things didn’t seem to be rolling our way, they were what kept us within striking distance at the midpoint of the meet.”
The Tigers started off the meet with an NCAA B-cut time in the 200-yard freestyle relay, establishing a new Blodgett Pool record. Shortly after, Princeton showcased its depth by finishing third, fourth, fifth and sixth in the 200-yard freestyle.
Seniors Easton Chen and tri-captain Will Schaffer also had clutch swims in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing first and second and posting much-needed points on the board for the Tigers.
Senior Dan Eckel outpaced a quick Harvard contingent in the 200-yard butterfly, setting a new Blodgett Pool record despite the three Crimson swimmers that trailed close behind. Princeton went one-two in the 200-yard individual medley, with Schaffer establishing and maintaining a wide lead throughout the race.
Senior tri-captain Robert Griest broke a 22-year-old school record in the 1,650-yard freestyle set by Daniel Veatch ’87. Griest completed the race in 15 minutes, 13.24 seconds, more than three seconds faster than the previous standard.
Despite some top performances, Princeton still had ground to make up Sunday afternoon.
“I think day one was a major wake up call for us … I think the team in general overlooked exactly how capable the Crimson are,” Lennox said. “On day one, Harvard came out with great passion and won a lot of close races, so on day two, our focus was to swim smarter races and dig a little bit deeper to get to the wall first.”
Setting the tone early Sunday afternoon, sophomore Colin Hanna and Schaffer finished one-two in the 400-yard IM, with Hanna coming within .6 seconds of the University record. Junior Chris Quemena and senior Bern Ebersole followed close behind, placing fourth and fifth.
With the meet still in the air, Lennox kept the momentum on the Princeton side, winning the 100-yard butterfly and placing second in the 100-yard freestyle. Lennox won the butterfly with a time of 46.19, currently the fourth fastest time in the nation. He now currently holds both the second and fourth fastest times in the 100-yard butterfly this season.
In arguably one of the best performances of the meet, Princeton took first through fourth, as well as sixth, in the 200-yard breaststroke. Ebersole kicked into high gear in the last 100, out-touching teammate Schaffer by .06 seconds.
Junior Daniel Dickerson led the divers in the one-meter event, placing third, with senior Yarden Fraimen coming fifth. Dickerson also posted the top Princeton score in the three-meter event, finishing second, and freshman Tom Wells placed fifth.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team clinched the weekend frenzy with a spectacular win, keeping three seconds ahead of the field and clocking in a time of 2:56.26, a new school record and a B-cut time.
Even in their victory, the Tigers recognize that there is always room for improvement. Princeton will face Navy at Annapolis, Md., on Feb. 7 and Columbia in New York on Feb. 13 as the team looks to extend its success from HYP.
“We learned that the team is very deep but still has holes that need to be filled,” Lennox said. “In the upcoming meets, we intend to fill those holes and hopefully bring the strongest group of swimmers and divers to the conference championships as possible … There will be very little room for error if any.”
Correction
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article stated that Lennox set a school record in the 100-yard butterfly. In fact, he did not.
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