Freshman Patrick Dinu Cracks Princeton Record with 42.51 100 FR in Meet with Brown & Dartmouth

PRINCETON vs BROWN vs DARTMOUTH (DOUBLE DUAL)

• Saturday, November 9, 2024
• DeNunzio Pool, Princeton, NJ
• SCY (25 Yards)
• RESULTS

TEAM SCORES

WOMEN

• Princeton def. Dartmouth, 238-60
• Princeton def. Brown, 182-118
• Brown def. Dartmouth, 234-66

MEN

• Princeton def. Dartmouth, 224-56
• Princeton def. Brown, 235-64
• Brown def. Dartmouth, 182-118

Princeton hosted Brown and Dartmouth for a men’s and women’s Ivy League double dual meet over the weekend. The meet featured some incredible swimming, including a program record for Princeton.

That record came from a freshman, believe it or not. Patrick Dinu, a Princeton freshman from Romania, won the men’s 100 free decisively on Saturday with a 42.51. Not only did he touch the wall 1st by 1.63 seconds, Dinu broke the Princeton team record in the process. Moreover, Princeton looks like they’ll have a nice 400 free relay when the end of the season rolls around, as Brett Feyerick took 2nd in 44.14, and Yanning Zhang came in 3rd with a 44.69.

In a preview of what their 400 free could look like in a few months, Princeton won the event at the end of the meet by a massive margin. Daniel Li (44.64), Mitchell Schott (42.74), Logan Noguchi (43.48), and Dinu (41.98) combined for a 2:52.84. To highlight how good Princeton is looking in the 100 free this season, their ‘B’ relay came in 2nd on Saturday. Freyerick (44.02), Parker Lenoce (44.48), Tyler Hong (43.71), and Lucas Tudoras (44.62) teamed up for a 2:56.83.

Dinu is an excellent breaststroker as well, having won the men’s 100 breast earlier in the meet with a 53.49. That’s an event where the Tigers look really good as well, seeing Andrew Zou take 2nd in 53.55.

Princeton won the men’s 200 medley relay decisively as well. Zhang (21.83), Dinu (24.01), Noguchi (20.40), and Freyerick (19.38) swam a 1:25.62. That relay could have been a bit faster as it turns out, as Tyler Hong led off the Princeton ‘B’ relay in 21.55.

Mitchell Schott, a junior, had a record-setting day for Princeton as well. Schott won the men’s 200 free in 1:32.78, touching 1st by well over 4 seconds. With the performance, Schott broke his own program record in the event. He had set the record last year with a 1:33.37.

Schott then went on to win the 400 IM in 3:42.58, touching 1st by 10 seconds. He was terrific all the way around, splitting 50.86 on fly, 57.15 on back, 1:04.19 on breast, and 50.36 on the final 100.

Princeton’s Andrew Zou put up a very good time in the men’s 200 breast, winning the event in 1:55.69. Zou got out to a great start, splitting 26.31, 29.24, 29.80, and 30.34 respectively by 50.

Though it wasn’t quite as high-flying as the men’s relay, Princeton looked great in the women’s 400 free relay as well. Sabrina Johnston (49.51), Ela Noble (49.81), Jenna Walters (49.56), and Heidi Smithwick (50.25) combined for a 3:19.13, winning the relay by nearly 2 seconds.

The Tigers saw Jenna Walters clock a 1:47.79 in the women’s 200 free, winning the race. She swam a consistently-split race, going out in 52.65 on the opening 100, and coming home in 55.14 on the back half.

Sabrina Johnston was big for Princeton as well, winning a pair of individual events. She first picked up a win in the women’s 100 back, touching in 53.63. She narrowly beat out Brown’s Jenna Reznicek, who finished in 53.70. Johnston then went on to win the women’s 100 free, once again in a very tight finish. She touched in 49.61, just beating out teammate Walters by 0.06 seconds.

Princeton’s Eleanor Sun put up a very solid 4:12.75 to win the women’s 400 IM.

Brown saw Gillian Tu win the women’s 100 breast with a 1:01.70. She was out well ahead of the field, splitting 29.43 on the opening 50. Brown also won the women’s 200 fly, where Zehra Bilgin clocked a 1:58.45.

OTHER EVENT WINNERS

• Women’s 200 medley relay: Princeton ‘A’ (Pappas, Smithwick, Johnston, Noble) – 1:39.21
• Women’s 1000 free: Eleanor Sun (Princeton) – 10:02.50
• Men’s 1000 free: Connor Buck (Princeton) – 9:08.30
• Women’s 200 back: Grace Black (Princeton) – 1:57.16
• Men’s 500 free: Arthur Balva (Princeton) – 4:24.89
• Men’s 100 fly: Logan Noguchi (Princeton) – 46.92
• Women’s 200 breast: Dakota Tucker (Princeton) – 2:12.32
• Women’s 500 free: Dana Li (Brown) – 4:51.48
• Women’s 100 fly: Heidi Smithwick (Princeton) – 53.66
• Men’s 100 back: Tyler Hong (Princeton) – 46.63
• Men’s 200 fly: Arthur Balva (Princeton) – 1:46.29
• Women’s 50 free: Ela Noble (Princeton) – 22.76
• Men’s 50 free: Brett Feyerick (Princeton) – 19.89
• Men’s 200 back: Tyler Hong (Princeton) – 1:44.15