Sports Shorts: Squash, Track & Field, Fencing and Swimming & Diving

Men's Squash sweeps Brown, falls in close match to no. 3 Yale

Intersession was no break for Princeton men’s squash. The defending Ivy League champions, now sitting on a 4-6 overall and 2-3 league record, swept Brown (4-11, 0-4 Ivy) but dropped matches to Penn (7-3, 3-2 Ivy), Trinity (15-0) and Yale (12-1, 4-0 Ivy). The Trinity Bantams — the great dynasty of college squash and defending national champions — are ranked no. 1 in the nation while the Bulldogs currently hold the no. 3 ranking.

The dominating performance against Brown this past Saturday saw the Tigers competing in Jadwin Gymnasium for the first time since late November. In this showdown as well as the matchups against Trinity and Yale, Princeton demonstrated strength at the top with junior Samuel Kang and co-captains junior Tyler Osborne and senior Dylan Ward winning three matches in the first three spots. Osborne was injured for the contest against Penn.

Sunday saw a match against Yale that was close throughout and drew sizable crowds at every court. Princeton earned victories at spots one through three but the Bulldogs edged the home team by winning in the next five spots. Spots six through eight saw a trio of tight five-game contests that all went in the visitors’ favor.

The Tigers will look to continue their strong showings in the final two meets of the season next weekend at Columbia and home against Cornell as they move towards the College Squash Association Team and Individual Championships later this month.

Sophomore Lavondré Nelson sets school record in 60-meter dash

This past weekend, Princeton men’s and women’s track and field competed in the Lions Invitational at the Armory Track and Field. The facility, home for the Lions, hosted an Ivy trio of Columbia, Princeton and Penn in addition to several northeastern university and college teams and a number of unattached athletes.

For the men, sophomores John Hill and Dre Nelson placed fourth and sixth respectively in the 60-meter dash with times of 6.90 and 6.94 seconds. In a preliminary heat, Nelson set the Princeton record with a blazing 6.79, beating his previous best of 6.84.

Freshman pole vaulter Benjamin Gaylord set his personal record with a mark of 4.90m, while classmate and thrower Jared Bell approached his own best in the shot put with a final distance of 17.04m, good for fourth in the event.

Freshman Bryant Switzer ran 49.08 in the 400-meter final, earning sixth overall and third among college student-athletes. In a close 4x400 relay the Tigers finished fifth with a mark of 3:18.50, less than half a second behind Penn.

Four Tigers secure wins in Lions Invitational

The women’s side earned four event wins on Saturday. Freshman Lizzie Bird outran the pack by nearly two seconds in the 1000 meters, posting a time of 2:52.95. Senior teammate Molly Higgins followed her in third place with a personal best mark of 2:54.92.

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In the 3000-meter race, junior Emily de La Bruyere cruised to a victory with a time of 9:37.38. This time was over 11 seconds faster than the next runner.

Also competing in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles, freshman Allison Harris edged out the competition in the pole vault, clearing 3.70m. Fellow freshman Alex Lanzafame placed fourth in long jump final with a mark of 5.55m, but fouled out of the triple jump event.

Reigning Ivy League hammer throw champion sophomore Julia Ratcliffe continued to impress as she dominated the weight throw — hammer throw does not feature in indoor meets — with a distance of 18.90m. Her closest competition managed 17.12m.

The women’s team will visit Penn State this upcoming Saturday for the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup. Their next home meet will be the Princeton Invitational on February 23.

Men's and Women's Fencing continue strong seasons at Northwestern

Nationally ranked third, the men’s fencing squad traveled to Evanston, Illinois for the Northwestern Duals. On day one, the Tigers fell in close contests to no. 4 Notre Dame, no. 10 Stanford and no. 6 Ohio State. They emerged from the day with a 5-3 record. The team cruised to three more wins over Lawrence, Detroit and Cleveland State on Sunday.

Currently ranked no. 1 in the nation, the juggernaut that is the Princeton women’s fencing team continued its run of dominance with a 13-0 sweep of all competition at the Northwestern Duals. Over the weekend, no. 3 Notre Dame, no. 5 Ohio State and no. 9 Temple managed to steal a few wins from the Tigers, but in the end could not stop the defending national champions.

The Ivy League Championships, hosted by Brown, fall next weekend. Princeton men’s and women’s should enter the contest as consensus favorites.

Tigers take top three places in men's backstroke

The men’s swimming and diving team split its annual HYP meet last Friday and Saturday in New Haven, as the Tigers returned to competition for the first time since Jan. 4. Princeton took down the Bulldogs 194-159 but fell to the Crimson 140-213. The five-time reigning Ivy League champions, however, experienced a similar regular season defeat to Harvard last season, before coming back to edge the Crimson by 68 points at the conference championships.

A 1-2-3 finish in the 100-meter backstroke highlighted the weekend for the men, as sophomore En-Wei Hu-Van Wright won in 48.21 seconds. Juniors Michael Strand and junior Connor Maher, reigning Ivy League champions in the 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke, respectively, placed second and third in the event.

While Hu-Van Wright grabbed Princeton’s only top finish in the weekend’s 19 events, the Tigers had a number of strong performances in other events. Maher, junior Harrison Wagner, freshman Julian Mackrel and sophomore Jeremy Wong kicked off the meet Friday evening in the 200-meter freestyle relay with a second place finish in 1:19.86. Harvard’s ‘A’ squad bested the Tigers’ quartet by less than a second, as the Crimson posted a time of 1:19.12.

On the diving platform, freshman Nathan Makarewicz shined brightest for the Tigers. The Salt Lake City native placed third in the 3-meter event on Friday evening and was fourth in the 1-meter event on Saturday afternoon.

The men return to Denunzio Pool this Friday night, as the Tigers take on Columbia in their final home meet of the season. Meet time is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Princeton women split HYP meet in New Haven

The women’s swimming and diving team experienced similar results to the men's at its HYP showdown this past weekend, as the Tigers (4-2) split with a win over Yale and a loss to Harvard. The Tigers fell to the Crimson by a score of 111-189, while they took down the Bulldogs 171-129. Like the men, however, the women’s team fell to Harvard at last year’s tri-meet before hoisting the Ivy League championship trophy less than a month later.

Sophomore Nikki Larson highlighted the Tigers’ success in New Haven with victories in the 100-meter and 200-meter fly. Larson took first in the 200-meter fly with a time of 2:00.36 on Saturday and won the 100 fly in 55.11 on Sunday.

Senior Lisa Boyce also added significant points for the Tigers, beginning on Saturday evening in the 200-meter medley relay. Junior Emily Yu, freshman Olivia Chan and sophomore Morgan Karetnick joined Boyce in putting up a time of 1:43.87, good for second overall. Boyce, the reigning Ivy League champion in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle, took second in the 50-meter with a 23.14 mark and first in the 100-meter with 50.51.

The divers also had strong showings, as freshman Caitlin Chambers placed third in the 3-meter event, missing gold by less than three points. Senior Rachel Zambrowicz finished a point and a half behind Chambers, good for fifth overall in the event.