Princeton Men Sweep Ivy League Double Dual With Penn and Cornell

Princeton vs Cornell vs Penn (Men’s Meet)

• Friday, November 17th
• University of Pennsylvania
• Short course yards
• Results

Team Scores

• Princeton 259.5, Cornell 40.5
• Penn 237, Cornell 63
• Princeton 157, Penn 143

Event Winners

• 200 medley relay: Penn (Blinstrub, McHugh, Lee, Dillinger), 1:29.82
• 1000 free: Levy Nathan (Princeton), 9:19.93
• 200 free: Mark Andrew (Penn), 1:38.47
• 100 back: Mark Blinstrub (Penn), 48.99
• 100 breast: Corey Lau (Princeton), 55.96
• 200 fly: Sean Lee (Penn), 1:47.19
• 50 free: Thomas Dillinger (Penn), 20.48
• 100 free: Thomas Dillinger (Penn), 45.12
• 200 back: Cole Buese (Princeton), 1:47.72
• 200 breast: Boris Yang (Penn), 2:01.99
•  500 free: Will Thomas (Penn), 4:31.52
• 100 fly: Ben Schafer (Princeton), 48.67
• 200 IM: Mark Andrew (Penn), 1:49.44
• 400 free relay: Princeton (Lewis, McQuet, Schafer Feiler), 3:00.40
• 1 meter diving: Colton Young (Princeton), 310.50
• 3 meter diving: Colton Young (Princeton), 331.90

Princeton’s men swept in an Ivy League tri-meet featuring Cornell and Penn. Princeton overtook Penn despite only winning 7 events to Penn’s 9. With all the mid-season invites that went on last weekend, it’s easy to overlook the handful of dual meets that went on as well, but there were notable performances that came out of this meet.

After this meet, Princeton Head Coach, Rob Orr, moved into a tie for 4th with Peter Daland (coached for USC) for most wins in NCAA history. Coach Orr is now at 318 wins in his NCAA career.

The list top 5 list breaks down as follows:

1. Rob Kiputh (Yale 1918-1959) – 528
2. Tom Groden (BC 1972-2016) – 371
3. Doc Counsilman (1952-1991) – 321
4. Peter Daland (USC 1959-1992)/ Rob Orr (Princeton 1979-present) – 318

Levy Nathan, a Freshman at Penn, went a best time 9:19.93 in the 1000 on his way to winning the event. His previous best time of 9:21.26 was set at Winter Jr. Nats last year.

Another Penn Freshman, Sean Lee, went his fastest untapered time ever in the 200 fly, posting a 1:47.19. His personal best time is 1:45.57, which he set at Winter Nationals last year. Last year, it took a 1:43.09 to be invited to the NCAAs.

Colton Young, a Princeton Freshman, took both diving events. The Ivy League is sporting a very strong Freshmen diving class, and a fast Freshmen swimming class as well.

Press Release – Princeton:

Impressive diving, timely wins and a brilliant final set of 400 free relays helped the Princeton men’s swimming & diving team open its 2017-18 Ivy League season with a thrilling sweep of both Cornell and Penn at Sheerr Pool in Philadelphia. The Tigers posted a decisive 259.5-40.5 win over Cornell, but their 157-143 win over Penn wasn’t determined until the final event of the afternoon.

Princeton was able to bookend the meet with wins, thanks to a strong early diving effort from freshman Colten Young. Coming off his runner-up finishes at the Virginia Invitational last weekend, Young opened the meet by winning the 3-meter diving event with 331.90 points, and he followed up later by winning the 1-meter event with 310.50 points. Princeton added important points with third-place finishes by Charlie Minns (3m, 311.30; 1m, 290.80) in both events as well.

Princeton opened the swimming events with a 2-3 finish in the 200 medley relay, and then freshman Levy Nathancontinued the strong early part of his career by winning the 500 free in 9:19.93. Princeton went second in both the 200 free (Murphy McQuet, 1:39.76) and 100 back (Alex Lewis, 49.40), and then another Tiger freshman got Princeton back in the win column; Corey Lau won the 100 breast in 55.96, while sophomore teammate Tyler Lin took second in 56.31.

Corey Okubo and Cole Buese tied for second in the 200 fly (1:47.53), and Ben Schafer added a runner-up finish in the 50 free in 20.73. After a third-place finish by Lewis in the 100 free (45.51), Buese and Wade O’Brien provided big points in the 200 back with a 1-2 finish. Buese claimed the win in 1:47.72, while O’Brien took second in 1:48.72.

Lin had his second runner-up finish of the afternoon by going 2:03.37 in the 200 breast, and Sam Tarter took second in the 500 free in 4:33.47.

Senior tri-captain Ben Schafer scored a much-needed win in the 100 fly (48.67), while fellow captain Zach Buerger added a third-place finish in 49.14. Okubo’s 1:50.58 in the 200 IM was enough for third, which set up the critical 400 free relay.

Princeton’s depth proved to be decisive, as the Tigers went 1-3-4 to clinch the sweep. Lewis, McQuet, Schafer and Christian Feiler went 3:00.40 to top Penn by more than 1.3 seconds, while Joshua Brown, Buerger, Jon Spires, and Buese took third in 3:05.07.

The sweep earned veteran head coach Rob Orr his 318^th victory, tying him for fourth-most in NCAA men’s swimming history with longtime USC head coach Peter Daland, who led the 1972 US Olympic team that included seven-time gold medal winner Mark Spitz.

Princeton will be off for Thanksgiving week, but the Tigers will make their home debut the following weekend for the annual Big Al Open, a three-day event that begins Friday, Dec. 1. That meet will be streamed live on the Ivy League Network.

Press Release – Penn:

PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming & diving team received several strong performances in its first Ivy League tri-meet of the season Friday to take down visiting Cornell while falling by a slim margin to Princeton. Mark Andrew and Thomas Dillinger led the way for the Quakers with two wins each on the afternoon.

PENN 237 – CORNELL 63
PENN 143 – PRINCETON 157

Mark Blinstrub, Colin McHugh, Sean Lee and Dillinger got the Quakers off to a good start in the team’s first Ivy tri-meet of the season, posting a first place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:29.82, almost a full second ahead of the rest of the field. Andrew was equally impressive with his top spot at the podium 200-yard free (1:38.47) – his first of two wins on the afternoon – clocking a time of 1:38.47. The junior would then go on to capture first in the 200-yard individual medley to cap off his third week of competition, touching the wall at 1:49.44, a fraction of a second ahead of Dillinger (1:49.56).

Blinstrub provided a first place finish in the very next event, the 100-yard backstroke, to continue Penn’s early barrage with a time of 48.99. Lee picked up another win for the third consecutive week to begin his collegiate career, this time pacing the field in the 200-yard butterfly (1:47.19). Fellow freshman Boris Yang turned in his second straight week with a win with first place in 200-yard breaststroke (2:01.99).

Dillinger then rebounded from his runner-up finish earlier to take first in back-to-back sprint freestyle events, coming out on top in both the 50-yard (20.48) and 100-yard free (45.12). The 400-yard free relay foursome of Lee, Blinstrub, Chris Nicholson and Nathaniel Cunnan rounded out the tri-meet with a second place finish with a time of 3:01.77.

WHAT’S NEXT
The Quakers (2-2, 1-2 Ivy) return to action Tuesday to host La Salle in a non-conference dual meet at Sheerr Pool scheduled for 5 p.m.

Press Release – Cornell:

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The Cornell men’s swimming and diving team finished third in a tri-meet with Princeton (259.5-40.5) and Penn (237-63) on Friday afternoon at Scheerr Pool. The Big Red slipped to 1-4 (1-3 Ivy) on the season.

Alex Evdokimov tied for second in the 100 breast (56.31) and was fifth in the 200 breast (2:06.17), one spot behind teammate Ryan Brown (2:05.51). Other top five finishers included Jacob Mullin the 100 back (51.80), Jack Mahoney in the 50 free (21.12) and James Huang in the 200 back (1:52.56).

With fall dual meet season complete, the Big Red will hit the pool at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational beginning on Friday, Dec. 1 on South Hill.