Men's Swimming & Diving: Six search for glory at NCAAs

Correction appended

For most collegiate athletes, a conference title would be a more-than-satisfactory way to end a season. The men’s swimming and diving team, however, has higher standards. After winning its 18th Ivy League title three weeks ago in a dominating all-around performance, No. 17 Princeton will send six swimmers to the NCAA Championships this weekend in search of greater glory.

The group of Tigers competing includes seniors Mike Carter, Dan Eckel, tri-captain Doug Lennox and Will Schaffer, junior Jon Hartmann and freshman Colin Cordes. The six Princeton swimmers will join hundreds of other top-tier swimmers and divers in College Station, Texas, in an attempt to finish their seasons with a bang.

This weekend will be Lennox’ chance to put the finishing touches on his impressive All-American collegiate career. This past summer, Lennox represented Puerto Rico at the Beijing Olympics. In addition, Lennox won 16 out of 20 races at Puerto Rican championships between 2006 and 2008 and collected numerous individual Ivy League Championships over the past three years. The accomplished swimmer will now look to put the final accent on his career with a coveted NCAA championship.

Lennox earned All-American accolades in 2008 by placing fourth in the 200-yard butterfly and 11th in the 100 fly. After another year of rigorous training, the senior will look to improve on those performances and finish at the helm of the sport. Lennox claimed both the 100 and 200 fly titles in the Ivy League Championships held three weekends ago at DeNunzio Pool. He enters this weekend’s NCAA competition with a personal record of 45.12 seconds in the 100 fly — the third-best time in the nation.

Statistically speaking, the 200 fly — arguably Lennox’s strongest event — looks to be far more intimidating. To say that the competition for the top spot in the 200 fly will be intense is a gross understatement. Despite winning the Ancient Eight title in the event with a time of one minute, 42.78 seconds, Lennox will be facing 10 swimmers who have recorded better times this season. Coming in with the nation’s 12th-best time is Eckel, whose 1:42.87 time was just a fraction of a second behind that of Lennox. Eckel’s time earned him second place at the Ivy League Championships.

Because both Lennox and Eckel’s times for the 200 fly were good enough to qualify them for the A-cut in the event, they also qualified to compete in the events for which they have recorded B-cut times, according to NCAA rules.

Several swimmers will represent Princeton in the relays. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Hartmann, Schaffer, Cordes and Lennox enters the weekend’s action with the nation’s 12th-best time of 6:24.75. This result qualifies the squad for the A-cut at the NCAA Championships, which qualified the relay swimmers to also participate in the events for which they made the B-cut.

Hartmann will be competing in the 200 individual medley, 100 free and 200 free. Schaffer will represent the Tigers in the 200 and 400 IM, while Cordes will swim the 200 free. Carter, who rounds out the 800-free squad, will compete individually in the 50 free and the 100 fly. Princeton will also swim in the 200 free and 400 medley.

The six swimmers that will represent Princeton this weekend combine to hold 23 individual top-10 records in the school’s record books. This weekend’s competition will also be the final collegiate races for four of Princeton’s elite six. Those four have led Tiger swimming and diving to three Ivy titles in the past four years, and the face of the swimming and diving team will be different without them next season.

Correction

The original version of this article incorrectly stated Princeton would be participating in the 800-yard freestyle relay. In fact, it is participating in the 200-yard freestyle relay.