Princeton won the first four events of the meet to build an early cushion on its way to posting a 171-129 victory over the Navy men’s swimming and diving team Saturday afternoon at DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, N.J.
“Overall,” said Navy head coach Bill Roberts, “I was pretty satisfied with the efforts and performances of the entire team. All of the teams are working really hard at this time of the year. Our guys stepped up against a really good team and posted some quality performances.”
The Tigers (6-2) claimed wins in the 200 medley relay, 1000 free, 200 free and 100 back events to take a 51-23 lead through four events. The Mids (6-3) climbed back into the meet with wins in the next two events, the 100 breaststroke and 200 butterfly. Marlin Brutkiewicz (So., Mobile, Ala.) posted a time of 55.83 to win the former event by nearly one-quarter of a second, then Jonathan Debaugh (Jr., Conroe, Texas) touched the wall in a clocking of 1:48.75 to claim the latter by 1.4 seconds. Those efforts helped pull the Mids to within 65-47 with 10 events remaining.
However, Princeton won each of the next four events to solidify its advantage in the meet.
Navy did finish the meet strong by earning victories in five of the final six events of the afternoon. Young Tae Seo (Fr., Los Angeles, Calif.) started the run for the Mids with a winning time of 2:02.86 in the 200 breaststroke. Tom Duvall (Jr., Durham, N.H.) followed by winning the 500 free in a time of 4:30.31, then Debaugh claimed his second event win of the day with a time of 49.13 to earn the victory in the 100 fly.
After the Tigers won the one-meter diving event, Seo posted a time of 1:51.87 to win the 200 individual medley and Navy’s foursome of Riley Mita (Sr., Stevenson Ranch, Calif.), Ethan King (So., Colliersville, Tenn.), Duvall and Dain Bomberger (Sr., Lititz, Pa.) won the 400 free relay in a time of 3:03.55.
“Young Tae had a terrific meet,” said Roberts. “He did okay in his first race (a third-place finish in the 200 fly). He hadn’t swam the 200 breast in a while, so I was happy to see him compete as he did in it. Then he was racing side-by-side with a couple of Princeton swimmers throughout the 200 IM.
“Technically, he had a real solid day.”
The Mids will be back in action on Sat., Jan. 11, when both Navy programs play host to North Carolina in an 11 a.m. meet.
