Men's Swimming and Diving: Tigers reign at DeNunzio

After losing a senior class that helped rewrite the record board last year, the men’s swimming and diving team was unsure of what would transpire in its 2009–10 season. Led by a combination of senior tri-captains Daniel Dickerson, Jonathan Hartmann and Chris Quemena, and a strong underclassman effort, the Tigers left no doubt as they won the Ivy League Championships at DeNunzio Pool on Saturday.

The three-day meet started off in style, with the team of junior Geoff Faux and sophomores Matt LaMonaca, Michael Monovoukas and Colin Cordes topping the competition by almost two seconds in the quick 200-yard freestyle relay. Sophomore Travis McNamara placed third in the 500-yard freestyle, while junior Colin Hanna placed fourth.

Princeton’s first individual win came from sophomore Jon Christensen in the 200-yard individual medley, where his time of 1 minute, 46.76 seconds was well under the NCAA B-cut of 1:49.33. Quemena placed second in 1:46.87, while Hartmann was seventh in 1:49.03.

Princeton was narrowly trailing Harvard until its performance in the 50-yard freestyle. Faux led a two-three-four-five-six effort in the sprint with a time of 19.78 seconds, a mere .43 seconds off the NCAA A-cut. Cordes, LaMonaca, Monovoukas and freshman Andres Tung finished behind Faux, respectively, giving Princeton 129.5 points and a clear lead.

Freshman Stephen Vines then engaged in a battle of the boards with Michael Stanton from Harvard in the three-meter competition. Stanton topped Vines by a mere 1.5 points. Senior Michael Papageorge and Dickerson placed third and fifth, respectively.

The team of freshman Kaspar Raigla, Christensen, sophomore Bryan Tay and Hartmann closed the night with a decisive win of 3:14.35 in the 400-yard medley relay.

Monovoukas and Faux joined Raigla and Christensen for the win in the 200-yard medley relay to start off the second day. With distance stud junior Patrick Biggs out of the meet due to illness, Harvard closed the Tigers’ lead with a one-two finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

The defending champion, junior Colin Hanna, was disqualified in the morning session of the 400-yard individual medley, leaving McNamara as the only swimmer in the top eight. Turning last going into the last 100 meters, McNamara chased down his competitors and earned fifth place. Hanna would later compete in a time-trial event that got the entire pool deck on its feet as he finished in 3:50.78, a time that would have won the event.

Tay, Monovoukas, and sophomore Charles Wang got the momentum going again in the 100-yard butterfly. Tay topped the field in 48.31 seconds, while Monovoukas and Wang contributed top-eight finishes.

The Princeton middle-distance group struck again with an amazing one-two-three-four finish in the 200-yard freestyle. While Cordes led the field, a strong last 50 yards from freshman Will Lawley allowed him to out-touch his teammate. Quemena and Hartmann were third and fourth, while junior Brett Lullo was seventh. The top four finishers teamed up to easily win the 800-yard freestyle relay in 6:33.43.

Christensen got his second individual win of the meet in the 100-yard breaststroke, which he won in 54.08 seconds. Raigla had an amazing drop from his morning swim to earn second place in the 100-yard backstroke.

Day three began with McNamara as Princeton’s only swimmer in the 1,000-yard free, in which he finished fourth. Cordes won the 200-yard backstroke in 1:46.06, just under the NCAA B-cut. Hanna and Raigla also contributed top-eight finishes.

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Continuing the trend of the weekend, the sprinting and mid-distance Tigers led a strong effort in the 100-yard freestyle. LaMonaca placed second in 44.55 seconds while Monovoukas, Quemena, Hartmann and Faux followed close behind, all within one tenth of a second of each other.

Christensen fell just short of another title, as he finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke in 1:57.51. His classmate Tay would again top the field in 1:47.07 in the 200-yard fly.

The divers then took to the boards for the one-meter event, in which Vines and Dickerson faced Stanton in a three-way battle. The Princeton pair finished second and third.

The final event of the meet was the 400-yard freestyle relay. Cordes, Faux and LaMonaca built a lead for Hartmann, whose last swim in DeNunzio earned the final win for Princeton. Their time of 2:57.98 was a NCAA B-cut.

“It was great,” said Hartmann, who anchored the relay for the second year in a row. “I was happy to finish my career on my favorite event.”

“We had a lot of setbacks throughout the entire season and the meet specifically, but we worked through them,” said Christensen, citing how the team bonded together to produce back-to-back championships.

“The best way to describe our team this year is as a very optimistic and happy group of people regardless of the circumstances,” Hartmann said. “We were able to look past the negative stuff and retain a positive, relaxed attitude to succeed. This team is closer than any other team I’ve ever been on.”

The Tigers who produced NCAA B-times are waiting to hear if they qualify for the NCAA Championship on Wednesday. Regardless, the Tigers ended their season successfully defending DeNunzio.