In their first three years of competition, seniors Andrew Helber and Jack Pohlmann never celebrated a win in the prestigious Harvard-Yale-Princeton swim meet. Now, as seniors, they finally have the opportunity of doing so.
This pastFridayandSaturday, the Tigers snagged 14 out of the 19 events to coast over their traditional Ivy League rivals in style, beating Harvard 224.5-126.5 and Yale 253-98.
Princeton began the meet with a victory, albeit a close one, as juniorEn-Wei Hu-Van Wright, sophomore Alexander Lewis, sophomoreBen Schaferand juniorJulian Mackreledged Harvard out by only .03 of a second to take the opening 200 free relay.
From then on out, the Tigers dominated the first day of competition, winning a stunning eight out of the nine events. The contributions came from across the board. Hu-Van Wright added to his string of successes by winning both the 100 back and the 50 free with times of 47.12 and 19.90, respectively. Tri-captain Pohlmann took the 100 breast with a time of 54.28, while freshman Murphy McQuiet notched a lifetime best in his win in the 200 free, with a time of 1:35.81. Senior Teo D’Alessandro also claimed the 200 IM title with a time of 1:46.73, sophomore Corey Okubo snagged the top spot in the 200 fly with a time of 1:44.18, and the 400 medley team of Helber, Pohlman, Schafer, and senior Sandy Bole ended the day with final Princeton win.
After such a dominant start, the Tigers held steady on the second day of the meet. The combination of Helber, Pohlman, Schafer, and Bole struck again to openSaturday’s competition, winning the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:27.19. The members of that relay would continue to prove dominant through the day, with Helber winning the 200 back in 1:43.55 and Schafer taking the 100 butterfly in 47.59. Princeton wins by junior Sam Smiddy in the 400 IM with a time of 3:52.64, Hu-Van Wright in the 100 free with 43.47, and junior Brett Usinger in the 200 breast with 1:57.95 sealed the victory at DeNunzio Pool.
Princeton demonstrated depth as well as breadth in its masterful performance. The Tigers took the top three spots in both the 100 breast and the 200 butterfly, and swept the top five spots in the 200 IM.
Harvard and Yale wins were few and far-between: The Crimson took the 400 meter relay and the 500 free, while Harvard sophomore David Pfeifer swept both the 3-meter and 1-meter diving contests. Yale scored their lone event winon Friday, when sophomore Hyogo Kei took the 1650 free in 15:10.36. Ultimately, Harvard snagged the second spot in the meet over the Bulldogs, 263-90.
The double wins in this meet move Princeton to 6-0 in Ivy League competition and boost them to the top of the Ivy League standings. The meet results also place the Tigers in a commanding position heading into the Ivy League Championships on the last weekend of February; Princeton has won four out of the past five titles in swimming and diving, including one this past year. After their convincing wins over Harvard and Yale, the men’s team appears poised for yet another dominant tournament performance.
The Tigers will conclude their season at home against Columbia onFeb. 5.
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