Swimming and Diving: Midshipmen become first visitors to win at DeNunzio Pool

“Navy came prepared. They wanted to race in a good pool and get some good times,” sophomore Kaspar Raigla said. “We gave it our best, and we had some really good swims. We had some people doing personal bests, but it wasn’t enough.”

The Tigers started the meet off well, earning a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay. Raigla and juniors Jon Christensen, Mike Monovoukas and Matt LaMonaca took first place with 1 minute, 29.52 seconds. Junior Charley Wang, freshman K.J. Park, sophomore David Reid and senior Geoff Faux finished next, a little over a second later.

Navy had a quick recovery in the second event, finishing in the top four spots in the 1000-yard freestyle, and then took first place in the 200-yard freestyle. Junior Colin Cordes and senior co-captain Colin Hanna took second and third places, respectively, in the 200-yard freestyle.

Princeton recovered lost ground in the fifth event, the 100-yard breaststroke, with Christensen finishing in first place and Park in third. Christensen also won the 200-yard individual medley race and swam for second place in the 200-yard breaststroke. LaMonaca and Faux had a 1-2 finish in 50-yard freestyle, while Wang took first place in the 100-yard butterfly.

Next for the men is a dual meet against Columbia, their last dual meet before the Ivy League Championships.

“Now that we lost our streak, our main focus is still going onto the Ivies. We want to show the Ivy League that we are strong, and that’s where our focus has been all season,” Raigla said.

An hour to the north, the women’s swim team defeated Columbia (4-4 overall, 2-4 Ivy League) by a score of 196-104, completing its fifth straight perfect Ivy League dual meet season. The Tigers (7-2, 7-0) have now won 38 consecutive dual meets.

Princeton saw strong performances from sophomore Carter Stephens, freshman Andrea Kropp, junior Jilian Altenburger and senior co-captain Megan Waters.

To start the day, freshman Lisa Boyce teamed up with Stephens, Kropp and Waters to earn a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Kropp also finished first in the 200-yard butterfly and 100-yard IM. Stephens won the 50-yard freestyle, and Waters took the top spot in the 100-yard backstroke.

A strength for Princeton in the meet was its depth in many races. The Tigers had four 1-2 finishes in a row, including finishes by junior Aislinn Smalling and sophomore Sarah Furgatch in the 200-yard freestyle, Waters and junior Leslie Bargman in the 100-yard backstroke, Altenburger and freshman Rebecca Lewinson in the 100-yard breastroke and Kropp and sophomore Kathy Qu in the 200-yard butterfly. Qu, Smalling and Stephens took the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle. Kropp, freshman Karen Wang, junior Kerry Gruendel and sophomore Alexa Powers dominated the 100-yard IM for Princeton, sweeping the top four spots.

In diving, freshman Rachel Zambrowicz earned the first-place spot with a score of 283.20, beating the second-place Columbia diver by 17 points.

Princeton now has a three-week break before the next event, which will be the Ivy League Championships from February 24–26. The Tigers will host the meet this year at Denunzio Pool.