Princeton continues unbeaten streak at DeNunzio

Since DeNunzio Pool's construction over 20 years ago, the men’s swimming and diving team has never lost one of its 107 home dual meets. And with “the streak” on the line for the last time this season, the stakes were high. But the stakes were also invisible. Princeton surmounted the pressure to win 15 of 16 events, crushing Columbia 174-117.

“Anytime ‘the streak’ is on the line, there’s always an elevated level of intensity,” diver and tri-captain Dan Dickerson said. “Everyone was eager to put an exclamation point at the end of another undefeated season and send our seniors out on a positive note.”

As an intermediary between the two biggest league meets of the season — Harvard-Yale-Princeton and the Ivy League Championships — the meet served a two-fold purpose. For some Tigers, the evening marked their last chance to race this season. For others, a grueling week of training and the sight of championships looming on the horizon permitted them to branch out from their specialty events. But in both cases, performance exceeded expectation.

Princeton (7-0 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) left Columbia (5-6, 2-5) battling through its wake from the start. Freshman Kaspar Raigla, sophomore Jon Christensen, freshman David Reid and junior Geoff Faux won the 200-yard medley relay decisively in one minute and 31.82 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of the competition.

With a lead established, Princeton continued to extend it.

Two Columbia swimmers struggled to hang onto the toes of junior Colin Hanna in the 1,000-yard freestyle, and, for the first 650 yards, they succeeded. But with seven laps to go, Hanna shifted into another gear. A gentle kick turned into a frenzy of feet churning wake in their path. Stroke turnover accelerated, and Hanna pulled away, extending his lead to open water. He surged into the wall two seconds before the competition in 9:30.09.

Princeton proved even more dominant in the 200-yard freestyle The Lions posed an early threat when one Columbia swimmer immediately established a significant lead. But with 75 yards to go, all four Princeton swimmers simultaneously started sprinting for home. After powering past Columbia, they broke away to sweep the event. Freshman Will Lawley led the attack, touching the wall first in 1:41.31. He was closely followed by senior Jon Hartmann, junior Brett Lullo and sophomore Travis McNamara

The 100-yard backstroke was in close contention from start to finish, but a well-timed lunge into the wall from Raigla earned him the win. Finishing in 51.56 seconds, he narrowly out-touched junior Tristan Hastings and senior Chris Quemena, who snagged second and third, respectively.

Princeton also took one-two-three in the 200 back. By descending the second half of the race, sophomore Alex Morrison captured the win in 1:54.35. He was followed two seconds later by flyer sophomore Charley Wang and Hastings.

Columbia managed to stay on Christensen’s shoulder for the first half of the 100-yard breaststroke. But an accelerated turnover in the final 50 yards from Christensen proved too much for the competition. Surging into the wall in 56.30 seconds, Christensen captured the event by 0.7 seconds.

Christensen, who normally swims breaststroke and the individual medley, revealed even more versatility with the 500-yard freestyle. Freshman sprinter Andres Tung, who also braved the distance event, went out like a sprinter. Splitting 24.8 seconds, he reached the second wall nearly two seconds before the field. Tung held onto his lead through the first 150 yards, but, by the halfway point, Christensen had crossed the gap. Then he created a gap of his own. After 350 yards, Christensen was gliding through open water two body lengths ahead. By the 450, his lead was four body lengths. While second-place Columbia was still half a pool length away from the finish, Christensen stopped the clock in 4:35.70. Tung held on for third in 4:45.32, less than a second before fourth-place Lawley.

Sophomore Adlai Pappy forged the way in the 200-yard butterfly, taking the lead from the start. He widened the gap on every lap to take the event in 1:52.38, a personal best. Completing the Tigers' sweep of the fly events, sophomore Bryan Tay edged out the field in the 100. Reid followed merely .04 seconds behind for second place.

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Freshman Brian Barrett fended off stiff competition in the 50 free. Winning the event in 21.00 seconds — a personal best — Barrett hurtled into the wall 0.05 seconds in front of Faux. Sophomore Mike Monovoukas and junior Alex Verdegem completed the Princeton sweep.

The 100 free saw a similar outcome, just with different swimmers. Hartmann triumphed in 46.02 seconds, followed by Quemena, sophomore Matt Lamonaca and sophomore Colin Cordes.

In the 200-yard individual medley, Tay and Hanna led Princeton to yet another one-two-three-four finish. They touched the wall in 1:54.42 and 1:54.81, respectively, with freshman Kila Pickering and Lullo completing the definitive sweep.

Dickerson out-dove the competition in the one-meter event. His personal-best score of 332.40 was only four points shy of Princeton’s oldest team record, set by Billy Heinz ’75 in 1975.

“While that record is something I really wanted to break,” Dickerson said, “it’s nice to have a sold performance leading into the peak of the season.”

Freshman Stevie Vines executed the best performances in the three-meter, with 342.97 points.

With “the streak” secure at least until next fall, the Tigers now have their eyes set on establishing another streak: back-to-back Ivy League Championships.

“We feel fortunate to have gone undefeated,” assistant coach Jamie Holder said. “But the Ivy championship will be a challenge for us, and, hopefully, our best swims are yet to come. We will need to be at our best to reach our goals for the season.”

Princeton, the defending champion, will host Ivies on March 4–6.