Men's Swimming & Diving: Princeton prepares to defend Ivy crown at DeNunzio

The Ivy League championships start on Thursday, and for the men’s swimming and diving team, it almost looks too good to be true. The Tigers have not lost an Ivy League meet in two years. They have won Ivies three of the last four times. And to top it off, this year they have home-pool advantage.

But looks can be deceiving.

The action will take place at DeNunzio Pool on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with sessions starting at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day.

The Tigers will face off against the entire Ancient Eight this weekend, but no team in the league gave Princeton too much trouble in dual meets earlier in the season.

Princeton cruised through the regular season without a hiccup, and the team extended “the streak” of dual meet wins at DeNunzio to 107. The Tigers have never lost a dual meet at home since the pool’s creation more than 20 years ago. And not only did Princeton win, it won in style.

Harvard put up the strongest fight in dual meets, but the Tigers still triumphed, 203-150. Every other win came by a wider margin, including a 224-91 blowout over Brown. But the relative ease of the regular season has not given Princeton much relief. If anything, earning the role of “one to beat” has made the team more wary.

“I hate losing, especially to someone from Harvard and especially when my mom and alumni are watching,” senior diver and tri-captain Dan Dickerson said. “I’m going to give it everything I’ve got to best the competition and defend my titles.”

And after last weekend, this feeling has only intensified. The undefeated women’s swimming and diving team took home the Ivy League title, but the Tigers still had to fight Harvard down to the last stroke to earn it. Both teams racked up more than 1,400 points, and Princeton won by only 27 points.

“We’re expecting the same sort of close contest [this weekend],” senior tri-captain Jon Hartmann said. “[But] we’re obviously hoping to win again this year.”

Either Princeton or Harvard has won the men’s league title every year since 1972.

This year’s seniors captured the championship as freshman in 2007, surrendered the title to Harvard as sophomores and reclaimed it as juniors last year. So now the task lies in breaking the trend.

Princeton has the edge in the sprint events and relays. The shorter events always carry some unpredictability — one miniscule mistake can make or break a race that takes only 20 or 50 seconds. But strong relays provide a degree of security: They are worth double points.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Harvard hopes, and is expected, to fight back in the distance events.

The swimmer to look out for is sophomore Jon Christensen, who has been unbeatable all season. The school record holder and defending champion in the 200-yard breaststroke is favored to take the event again, this time along with the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley.

Dickerson is also expected to score big in the diving events. The reigning Diver of the Meet had breakout performances last year to win both the one- and three-meter competitions. And since then, he has only improved. At the last dual meet of this season, Dickerson scored 332.40 points in the one-meter, only four points shy of Princeton’s oldest team record, which was set by Billy Heinz in 1975.

After an undefeated run through the Ivy League, Princeton’s senior class aims to go out on a high note at DeNunzio.

“Any given day, anything can happen,” Dickerson said. “I hope that attitude of anything being possible is contagious for the swimmers.”