Princeton Men Edge Out Navy by 3 Points

Princeton vs Navy (Men’s Dual)

• Saturday, January 6th
• Annapolis, Maryland
• Short course yards
• Results

Team Scores

• Princeton – 151.5
• Navy – 148.5

The Princeton and Navy men went down to the wire in their dual meet on Saturday after Navy made a late push to end just 3 points behind Princeton. Both teams won 8 events, with Navy sweeping the relays and diving events.

Ryan Waters (Navy) and Cole Buese (Princeton) were the only swimmers to win 2 individual events. Waters took the 1000 and 500 in times of 9:23.52 and 4:34.27, which are both his 2nd fastest time this season. Buese took the 200 back and 200 IM with times of 1:48.56 and 1:50.62. His 200 IM time was his fastest dual meet time this season.

Bradley Buchter from Navy dominated the diving events, winning both by a combined 72 points.

For an early January meet, these teams put up some pretty fast times. Princeton’s Corey Okubo posted a 1:48.42 in the 200 fly, while Ben Schafer went 48.88 in the 100 fly. Navy put up a decent 400 free relay, going 3:00.64, led by splits of 44.88 and 44.50 from Andy MacGregor and Zachary Piedt on the 2nd and 4th legs.

Event Winners

• 200 medley relay: Navy (Wilson, Nguyen, Piedt, Everman) – 1:30.70
• 1000 free: Ryan Waters (Navy) – 9:23.52
• 200 free: Murphy McQuet (Princeton) – 1:39.39
• 100 back: Alexander Lewis (Princeton) – 50.16
• 100 breast: Corey Lau (Princeton) – 56.83
• 200 fly: Corey Okubo (Princeton) – 1:48.42
• 50 free: Christian Feiler (Princeton) – 20.74
• 100 free: Joseph Jaime (Navy) – 45.06
• 200 back: Cole Buese (Princeton) – 1:48.56
• 200 breast: Brayden Lauffer (Navy) – 2:03.25
• 500 free: Ryan Waters (Navy) – 4:34.27
• 100 fly: Ben Schafer (Princeton) – 48.88
• 200 IM: Cole Buese (Princeton) – 1:50.62
• 400 free relay: Navy (Jaime, MacGregor, Whitaker, Piedt) – 3:00.64
• 1 meter diving: Bradley Buchter (Navy) – 341.78
• 3 meter diving: Bradley Buchter (Navy) – 389.33

Press Release – Princeton:

The last two meets between Princeton and Navy in Annapolis were decided by an average of 9.5 points, so it was fair to hope for an exciting dual between the two historic programs Saturday afternoon.

Few probably anticipated it coming down to the last scoring hand to touch the wall, but that was exactly what happened in Lejeune Hall. Princeton’s ‘B’ relay in the 400 free topped the Navy ‘B’ by less than two seconds to score the decisive points in a thrilling 151.5-148.5 victory for the Tigers.

The win improves Princeton to 7-2 on the season, and it marks the sixth straight win for the Tigers. Princeton will be off for finals now, and it will return to the water during the first weekend of February for the annual H-Y-P meet in Boston.

Navy got off to a strong start with victories in the 200 medley relay and the 1000 free, but Murphy McQuet picked up a big early win by taking the 200 free in 1:39.39, less than .2 of a second faster than his Navy rival. Former All-American Alex Lewis followed with another tight win in the 100 back (50.16), and freshman Corey Lau added a thrilling win in the 100 breast in 56.83.

Senior Corey Okubo and junior Cole Buese have been among Princeton’s most dependable swimmers over the last two years, and that duo went 1-2 in the 200 fly to help build the Tiger advantage. Those two were in a race of their own, as they topped the rest of the field by more than three seconds, but Okubo claimed the win by .05 with a time of 1:48.42.

Princeton’s winning streak hit four when Christian Feiler won the 50 free in 20.74, and then Colton Young (309.90) and Samuel Chiacchia (301.50) went 2-3 in the 1-meter diving competition.

Feiler took fourth in the 100 free, but Buese made sure Navy didn’t get full momentum by winning the 200 back in 1:48.56. Teammate Wade O’Brien added a second-place finish in 1:50.01; two events later, teammate Sam Tarter took second in the 500 free in 4:34.67.

Senior tri-captain Ben Schafer won the 100 fly in 48.88, and Young added another runner-up finish in the 3-meter event with 349.50 points. Teammate Charlie Minns took third with 339.90 points.

Buese became the first Tiger to double during the afternoon by winning the 200 IM in 1:50.62, and that helped Princeton go into the final event with a much-needed lead. Navy needed to take two of the top three spots in the 400 free, including the top spot, and the Midshipmen did manage to win the event. However, the Princeton ‘A’ relay took second in 3:01.12, and the ‘B’ finished in 3:03.92, more than 1.5 seconds faster than Navy, to clinch the team win.

Press Release – Navy:

ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– A second and third-place showing in the final event of the meet secured a narrow 151.5-148.5 victory for Princeton (7-2) over the Navy (8-1) men’s swimming and diving team Saturday afternoon at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis.

“I think both teams knew going into the meet that it was going to be very close,” said Navy men’s swimming head coach Bill Roberts.

The meet couldn’t have started much better for the Mids as they placed first and second in the opening 200 medley relay before Ryan Waters (Fr., Basking Ridge, N.J.) and Luke Johnson (Fr., Charlotte, N.C.) led a 1-2-5 finish for Navy in the 1,000 free. Waters edged Johnson for the win by one second (9:23.52-9:24.50), with Johnson defeating Princeton’s third-place swimmer by 1.64 seconds. Those results gave Navy an early 33-22 lead.

“We knew Princeton was not going to back down after we won the first two events,” said Roberts.

Princeton would win the ensuing five races to take a 76-55 lead, but Navy closed to within 83-67 at the halfway point of the 16-event dual thanks to the Mids earning three of the five places in the one-meter diving event. Leading the way was Bradley Buchter (So., Hickory, N.C.), who scored 341.78 points to win the board by 32 points.

Navy quickly winnowed the margin down to 86-83 when Joseph Jaime (Sr., San Antonio, Texas), Zach Piedt (Jr., Fort Mill, S.C.) and Andy MacGregor (So., Grand Rapids, Mich.) placed first (45.06), second (45.64) and third (45.88), respectively, in the 100 freestyle. Princeton then placed first and second in the 200 backstroke to regain a 101.5-86.5 cushion, but that margin was sliced back down to four points –– 105.5-101.5 –– when Navy’s Brayden Lauffer (Jr., Apex, N.C.) won (2:03.25) and Chris Bondarowicz (Fr., Scotch Plains, N.J.) finished in second place (2:05.16) in the 200 breaststroke.

The Mids regained the lead at 113.5-112.5 after Waters won the 500 freestyle by four-tenths of a second (4:34.27) and teammate Luke Nelson (Jr., Providence, R.I.) also placed third (4:34.77) in the race.

“I was really happy with the way we responded when we went down and battled back,” said Roberts. “Ryan is a tough kid. He trains real well, partly because we have a great training group. He is the one who stands out with the win, but it really is a collective effort of that distance and middle distance group operating at a high level every single day. Ryan really is a great racer and has a great internal sense of pace and puts it on display in these meets.”

Princeton then placed first and third in the 100 fly to take a 124.5-120.5 lead, but Buchter won the three-meter event by 40 points (389.33) to make the score 133.5-130.5 in favor of the visitors with just two events left on the docket.

“I was very pleased with how the divers competed today,” said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald. “We have a group of extremely tired divers because of how much we have been training lately. For them to step up and dive as well as they did today made me proud. We are looking forward to the upcoming final push of the season.”

The Tigers scored three swimmers –– first, third, fifth –– in the 200 individual medley to take a 145.5-137.5 lead into the 400 freestyle relay. Navy needed to win the event and also score one other team in the relay to claim the overall meet victory. The Mids would place first in the relay race, but the Tigers touched the wall in both second and third places to earn the victory.

Had Navy been able to place first and third in the relay (Princeton edged the Mids for third place by 1.8 seconds), it would have won the meet 150.5-149.5.

Today was the first meet for both teams in nearly one month and immediately followed lengthy post-holiday training sessions.

“The times were very solid,” said Roberts. “Some guys were a bit off, and that is sometimes hard to predict with the impact of winter training on each swimmer. On the whole, we had some very good swims. Some guys easily exceeded what they had done in season prior to the Army meet. I will have to look at them a little more in depth, but I think I am going to be pretty happy with them.”

Navy’s season will continue on Saturday, Jan. 13 when both Navy teams travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to compete against both North Carolina and Penn State.