Princeton Wins 7 of 10 Individual Events at Night One of Big Al Invitatational

Big Al Invitational

• December 6-8, 2024
• DeNunzio Pool — Princeton, NJ
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Participating Teams: Columbia, George Washington, Princeton (host), University of Pennsylvania, West Virginia (diving only)
• Results: “2024 Princeton Big Al Invitational” on MeetMobile

The first finals session of this year’s Big Al Invitational went off last night, with Princeton winning 7 of the 10 events.

Event Winners:

• Women’s 200 Free Relay: Princeton- 1:30.13
• Men’s 200 Free Relay: Princeton- 1:17.56
• Women’s 500 Free: Anna Moehn (PRIN)- 4:41.61
• Men’s 500 Free: Arthur Balva (PRIN)- 4:18.23
• Women’s 200 IM: Eleanor Sun (PRIN)- 1:57.10
• Men’s 200 IM: Mitchell Schott (PRIN)- 1:42.84
• Women’s 50 Free: Ela Noble (PRIN)- 22.63
• Men’s 50 Free: Elliott Irwin (GW)- 19.79
• Women’s 400 Medley Relay: Princeton- 3:37.87
• Men’s 400 Medley Relay: George Washington- 3:09.29

The meet started with the 200 free relays, which were won by Princeton on both sides. The women won with a final time of 1:30.13. The team of Sabrina Johnston (22.41), Ela Noble (22.31), Veronique Rossouw (22.72), and Jenna Walters (22.69) beat the 2nd place Columbia team who came in at 1:31.79.

The Princeton men took first and second in men’s 200 free relay. The A relay team of Patrick Dinu (19.61), Logan Noguchi (19.30), Brett Feyerick (19.02), and Conor McKenna (19.63) went 1:17.56 to beat the B relay’s time of 1:19.25 by almost 2 seconds.

Penn junior Anna Moehn won the women’s 500 freestyle in 4:41.61. This was an NCAA B cut, and a half-second drop from her previous best of 4:42.12 from the Ivy League Championships last year. Penn also took 5th, 6th, and 8th in the event.

Arthur Balva, a Princeton sophomore, took the men’s 500 free in 4:18.23. This was a 4 second drop for Balva, who came in with a best time of 4:22.65 from last year’s Big Al Invitational. He also won the event by almost 2 seconds.

Princeton won both 200 IM events. Sophomore Eleanor Sun won the women’s event by over a second with her 1:57.10. This was around a second off her best time of 1:56.26 from this meet last year. Princeton swept the podium with sophomore Dakota Tucker placing 2nd in 1:58.28, and junior Sabrina Johnston taking 3rd in 2:00.03. Penn sophomore Katya Eruslanova got 9th in 1:59.52, breaking the Penn school record from the B final.

Mitchell Schott, a junior, won the men’s 200 IM for Princeton in 1:42.84, a new best time by over half a second from his 1:43.48 from February. This time is well under the NCAA B cut of 1:45.68.

Ela Noble won the women’s 50 free with a final time of 22.63, an NCAA B cut. This was off her best of 22.13 from the Ivy Championships earlier this year.

The men’s 50 freestyle went to Elliott Irwin, a 5th year from George Washington in 19.79, which was just over a half second add from his best of 19.25 from the Summit League Championships last year.

The 400 medley relays were the last event of day 1 finals. Princeton took 1st and 2nd in the women’s relay. Alexa Pappas (54.33), Dakota Tucker (1:02.31), Heidi Smithwick (53.13), and Sabrina Johnston (48.10) went 3:37.87 to beat the Princeton B’s 3:39.54 by just under two seconds.

George Washington won the men’s 400 medley relay in 3:09.29. Ganesh Sivaramakrishnan (46.16), Connor Rodgers (53.92), Daniel Nagy (46.43), and Elliott Irwin (42.78) beat the Princeton A by almost 2 seconds with Princeton coming in at 3:11.02