Princeton Edges Navy

The 21st-ranked Princeton men's swimming and diving team kept its unbeaten record intact Saturday, but it took everything the Tigers had to hold off the winningest Navy squad in program history. 

Navy (17-2) found itself in a deep hole to Princeton (7-0) right at the start of the meet.  The Tigers placed first and second in the 200 medley relay and then finished 1-2-3 in the 800 freestyle to quickly jump out to a 29-5 lead after just two events.

The Mids cut into the deficit slighty when Mac Anthony (Fr., Allentown, Pa.) and Aaron Aiken (So., Ocala, Fla.) placed first and second in the 200 freestyle, then Andrew Hetzner (Jr., Riverside, Calif.) followed with a victory for Navy in the 100 backstroke.  

The margin remained pretty much the same through the middle part of the meet as the two teams traded victories for a number of events.  Navy then placed first and second in three consecutive events to close to within seven points of the Tigers.  Erik Hunter (So., Placerville, Calif.) and Anthony started things off for the Mids in the 400 freestyle, with their performance followed by John Tortorich (Fr., Metarie, La.) and Mark Meyer (Jr., Bethesda, Md.) in the 100 fly.  Completing the three-for-three effort was the tandem of Olaf Olson (So., Bainbridge Island, Wash.) and Jon Galinski (Sr., Phoenix, Md.) on the three-meter springboard diving event.

The final individual event of the meet saw Navy’s Adam Meyer (Jr., Bethesda, Md.) win the 200 individual medley, with Princeton’s Will Schaffer edging Navy’s Billy Vey (Sr., Huntersville, N.C.) for second place by 14-hundredths of a second.  With the Tigers also placing fourth and fifth in the race, Princeton held a 142.5-140.5 advantage heading into the 400 free relay, which meant whichever team won the relay won the dual meet.

The final event of the evening was the 400 free relay, and Princeton got a big win from Lennox, Carter, Faux and Jon Hartmann, who took the event in 3:21.61.  Princeton held a one-half second advantage after the opening 100 meters of the relay, but then Aiken had a great effort for Navy that sliced the deficit in half at the midpoint of the race.  Geoff Faux regained the time Princeton had lost and then some on the third leg of the race, however.  Though Navy anchor swimmer Alex Oldenkamp (Sr., Coppell, Texas) was able to best his opponent from Princeton by three-tenths of a second, Princeton still won the race by one-half of a second, 3:21.61-3:22.14.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything else out of our team today,” said Navy head coach Bill Roberts.  “To compete against a nationally-ranked opponent on the second of two meets in as many days is a challenge.  We then found ourselves down by a big margin right at the start of the meet, but everyone swam and dove great today and we fought our way back into the meet.  That alone says a lot about the team we have.

“The 200 freestyle really sparked us.  We really needed something to happen at that time and Mac and Aaron did just that.”

Princeton is now 7-0 overall and 6-0 in the Ivy League. The Tigers will try to run the league table next weekend at Columbia, and will then gear themselves towards reclaiming the Ivy League title during the conference meet, which will be held at DeNunzio Pool during the first weekend of March.

Princeton opened the meet by going 1-2 in the 200 medley relay. The quartet of Charlie Wang, Jon Christensen, Mike Monovoukas and Geoff Faux won the event in 1:42.76, while the foursome of Colin Cordes, John Lamonaca, Dan Eckel and Matt Lamonaca placed second in 1:43.55.

The Tigers built on the strong start with a 1-2-3 finish in the 800 free. Senior tri-captain Robert Griest won the event in 8:07.14, while sophomore Patrick Biggs finished second in 8:08.54 and freshman Travis McNamara took third in 8:11.20.

Princeton took second and third in the 200 free, as senior tri-captain Will Schaffer (1:53.78) and Christopher Quemana (1:54.19) trailed only James Anthony in the event. The Tigers also got points with a 1-2 finish in the 100 back, as Robert Coe (57.78) and Dan O’Connor (58.09) followed Andrew Hetzner.

Princeton got back on the winning track when John Lamonaca won the 100 breast in 1:03.59, while Christensen took second in 1:04.01. Eckel followed with a win in the 200 fly (1:59.82), while senior tri-captain Doug Lennox took third in 2:00.77.

In the 50 free, Faux (22.63) held off Matt Lamonaca (23.38) for the win, while teammate Lennox claimed the 100 free in 51.30; senior Mike Carter took third in 51.88.

Navy’s Olaf Olson swept the 1- and 3-meter boards, while Princeton junior Dan Dickerson placed third in both events; he scored 262.65 points in the 1-meter competition and 317.02 in the 3-meter competition.

Navy picked up wins in both the 200 back (Ryan Ward, 2:05.66) and the 400 free (Erik Hunter, 3:56.61), but Princeton got third-place finishes in both events. Sophomore Colin Hanna took third in the 200 back in 2:06.38, while McNamara finished third in the 400 in 4:02.46.

Princeton’s Matt Jacobson won the 200 breast in 2:19.14, while Christensen took second in 2:19.83. Eckel picked up a third-place finish in the 100 fly (56.97), while Wang took fourth in 57.49. Schaffer finished second in the 200 IM in 2:05.33.

Navy will now begin preparations for the championship portion of its season, which begins in two weeks when the Mids compete in the Patriot League Championship at Bucknell.