Swimming & Diving: Women top field in 40th straight meet

The swimming and diving teams continued their strong starts of the season with victories in their first dual meets. Both teams swept Cornell and Penn to open Ivy League competition.

The women’s team won its 39th and 40th straight dual meets, a streak that dates back to the fall of 2006, defeating Penn by 30 points and Cornell by much more. Princeton athletes took first place in 11 of the 16 events in Philadelphia and finished second in two others.

Freshman Claire Loht led the Tigers with two individual victories. Loht took the 200 freestyle by more than a full second, finishing in one minute, 51.83 seconds. Later in the day, the rookie swam a 5.02:18 in the 500 freestyle, teaming up with fellow freshman Damaris Iriondo for a 1-2 finish that was more than three seconds clear of the field.

Iriando proved herself already one of Princeton’s top distance swimmers, finishing second in the 1000 freestyle at 10:22.03. Other freshmen to contribute to the Tigers’ victory were Shirley Wang, who won the 100 backstroke, and Emily Yu, who swam breaststroke in the team’s first-place 200-yard medley relay to open the meet.

Junior Carter Stephens picked up individual victories in the 100 and 200 butterfly events, while sophomore Lisa Boyce also picked up a win in the 100 freestyle. Senior Meredith Monroe led a sweep of the top three positions in the 200 backstroke.

Princeton’s divers got in on the action as well. Senior Christina Kirkwood edged out sophomore Randi Brown for first place in the 1-meter event and took second place from three meters.

After a strong showing at the Princeton Open, the men’s team also continued its dominance in the pool in Philadelphia this weekend. The victory was in large part due to a new and talented freshman class that gives promise to the upcoming season.

Freshmen Michael Strand and Harrison Wagner, along with senior Mike Monovoukas and junior Brian Barrett, captured first place early on in the meet with a 200 medley time of 1:32.14. And to follow that strong performance, junior Kaspar Raigla, sophomore Eric Materniak, junior David Reid and senior Matt LaMonaca captured third place in the 200 medley with a time of 1:34.16.

In the individual races, the Class of 2015 came out strong early. Freshman David Paulk took first place in the 1000 free with a time of 9:31.53 and then later went on to win the 500 free in 4:38.97. Freshman Michael Strand placed first in the 100 back in 50.33 and took second in the 100 fly with a time of 50.86, losing by one-hundredth of a second. Another member of the freshman class, Connor Maher, finished first place in the 200 back in 1:52.00.

But the freshmen’s performances did not take away the spotlight from the seniors, who also had very strong showings. In addition to Monovoukas’ and LaMonaca’s great performances in the medleys, senior tri-captain Colin Cordes won the 200 free in 1:40.48.

Sophomore Daniel Hasler finished in third place in the 100 breast with a time of 59.14 and finished second in the 200 breast with a time of 2:03.69. He capped off his day with a first-place finish in the 200 IM in 1:55.12.

The diving team also came away with great results. Junior Stevie Vines won the 1-meter and the 3-meter competition and sophomore Mark O’Connell came in third place in the 1-meter.

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Looking forward to the rest of the season, the swimming and diving teams are hoping to repeat as Ivy League champions. On Dec. 2-4, the Tigers will host the Big Al Open in DeNunzio Pool. After that meet, the season will start up again with an Ivy-packed schedule in January and February, culminating in the Ivy League Championships in February and March.