Florida Leads Day Two of Princeton Invite

A pair of A's, Alicia Aemisegger and Jillian Altenburger, both picked up individual wins for Princeton during the Saturday session of the Big Al Open, which ends Sunday. Aemisegger set a DeNunzio Pool record in the 400 IM while Altenburger topped the field in the 200 free.

As a team, Princeton currently stands in third place with 471 points. Florida leads the field with 815 points, while Utah holds second with 574 points. Princeton leads the likes of Columbia, Brown, Rider and Rutgers.

The session opened with the 200 medley relay, where Princeton took third with the team of Megan Waters, Aemisegger, Justina DiFazio and Courtney Kilkuts (1:43.18). Without much rest, Aemisegger got right back in the water and topped the pool record of former Olympian Christina Teuscher when she went 4:06.48 to win the 400 IM. Besides setting the DeNunzio record, Aemisegger made her A-cut time for the NCAA championships.

Princeton did not place anybody in the 100 fly finals, but the Tigers did have four in the consolation finals. Monika Friedman led the way with a 12th-place finish (57.03), while DiFazio, Waters and freshman Kerry Gruendel all finished between 13th and 16th.

Altenburger followed with a win in the 200 free by finishing in 1:49.06. Youth was served for Princeton in the event, as fellow freshman Aislinn Smalling took sixth in 1:50.57.

Kilkuts (4th, 1:03.09) and Gruendel (8th, 1:05.57) both reached the finals of the 100 breast, while Waters won the consolation final of the 100 back.

Princeton got a second-place finish in the 1-meter diving competition when 2007 Ivy League Championships Diver of the Meet Katie Giarra placed second with 287.35 points. The night ended with the team of Aemisegger, DiFazio, Smalling and Altenberger finishing the 800 free relay in a second-best and B-cut time of 7:18.39.

Sunday will have a preliminary session at 10 a.m. and a finals session at 6 p.m. The finals will be streamed live on TigerZone, which you can sign up for through GoPrincetonTigers.com. Admission to both sessions is free. The following is Sunday’s order of events:

Princeton picked up four victories, including a 100 fly win for Doug Lennox and a 400 IM win for Colin Hanna, as the 22nd-ranked men's swimming and diving team continued its close battle with No. 6 Florida in the Big Al Invitational.

Florida currently leads the field with 691.5 points, while Princeton is second with 655 points. Utah is third with 366.5 points. Princeton held a small lead through the preliminary session. The Tigers carried that momentum into the night's first event, when the team of Lennox, Jon Christensen, Mike Carter and Geoff Faux won the 200 medley relay in 1:29.34.

The momentum only grew over the next two events, starting with the 400 IM. Hanna won the race with a B-cut time of 3:48.93, while senior teammate Will Schaffer won the consolation final in 3:57.75. Lennox followed by winning the 100 fly in a B-cut time of 46.53. He joined a pair of freshman teammates in the final, as Charley Wang placed fourth in 49.79 and Mike Monovoukas took seventh in 50.60.

Jon Hartmann took fourth in the 200 free (1:38.65), while freshman Colin Cordes took eighth in 1:41.35. Christensen, yet another talented freshman, followed with a second-place finish in the 100 breast (55.87), while teammates Schaffer (57.34) and Easton Chen (57.80) placed sixth and seventh, respectively. Wang added a seventh-place finish in the 100 back (50.93).

Junior Dan Dickerson finished second in the 3-meter diving competition (337.65), while the 800 free relay team of Lennox, Cordes, Travis McNamara and Hartmann won the event with a B-cut time of 6:34.82.

Utah Women In Second, Men Third At Princeton
The Utah men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams continued competition at the Princeton Invitational Saturday. The Utah women moved up in the meet, finishing second after the night’s events with 574 points. The University of Florida remains ahead of them with 815 points. The Utah men remain in third place with 360.5 points, behind Florida with 691.5 points and Princeton with 655 points.
 
“We saw some fantastic swims tonight,” said Utah head coach Greg Winslow, “Overall, the team has been impressive. They are all excited about how they are competed and are looking forward for the rest of the year and the Mountain West Conference Championships.”
 
The men made up some ground on Saturday, doubling their points from the previous day. Leading the way was Michel DeCarolis (Therwil, Switzerland), who won the 100 breast event with a time of 55.39. The time was second in school history. John Baque (Olympia, Wash.) took fourth in the same with a time of 56.10, which is the fifth-best time in school history.
 
The men’s relay teams had a great day as well. The 200 medley relay team comprised of Major Robinson (Missoula, Mont.), DeCarolis, Adam Oliver (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and George Evans (Salt Lake City, Utah) finished in third with a time of 1:32.53. The 800 free relay team of Robinson, Simon Oberholzer (Schaffhausen, Switzerland), Marco Ferraro (Freberdorf, Switzerland) and Oliver finished in second with a time of 6:38.51.  The time is the second-best time in Utah school history, behind the best time by .05 seconds.
 
Ferraro and Robinson also scored points for the Utes. Ferraro finished third in the 200 free with a time of 1:38.59. Robinson placed fourth in the 100 back with his time of 50.20. Both times are in the top 10 in Utah school history.
 
The women continued to have a great meet as well. The relay teams continued to be dominant on Saturday. Beth Gunderson (Portland, Ore.), Annie VanLeeuwen (West Valley City, Utah), Whitney Lopus (Scottsdale, Ariz.), and Natalie Edge (South Jordan, Utah) started the meet off with a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:42.87.
 
The 800 free relay team of Lopus, Edge, VanLeeuwen and Hannah Caron (Raleigh, N.C.) set school and conference records with their time of 7:13.62. The time is currently third in the country for this season.
 
Lopus continued to have a great meet, putting up an amazing time in the 100 fly of 53.19. The time is the best in Utah school history, MWC history, and Princeton pool history.  It’s currently in the top 10 best times of the year in the country. In that same race, Hannah Caron (Raleigh, N.C.) finished second with an equally impressive time of 53.86 and Jen Fredsall (Kearns, Utah) finished fifth with a time of 55.97.
 
Edge also continues to be impressive, finishing second in the 200 free with her time of 1:49.58, which is the third-best in school history. Another top finisher was VanLeeuwen in the 100 breast. She finished third with a time of 1:03.07. “Annie had a great 100 breast stroke tonight. It was a pleasant surprise,” Winslow said.
 
Swimming continues tomorrow at Princeton. The events for Sunday include the 200 breast, the 200 fly, the 100 free and the mile swim.
 
“The women are strong in the fly events, and our 100 free swimmers are some of our best. The men should compete well in the 200 breast as we saw tonight and the mile, where our endurance will be a big factor” said Winslow, “Tomorrow should be our best day. We should be able to make up a little bit of ground.