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Men's Swimming & Diving Hopes To Repeat Women's Magic At 2006 EISLs
March 02, 2006 | Men's Swimming and Diving
March 2, 2006
In 1972, well before any of this weekend's participants were born, the Yale men's swimming and diving team celebrated an EISL championship. Since then, that party has been held by one of two programs, Princeton or Harvard. Care to guess which two squads begin today's championships at Columbia as the favorites?
Princeton and Harvard shared the dual meet championship this season, with both squads losing only once. There was a bit of bad news for both teams in that loss. For Princeton, the loss came at the hands of the rival Crimson, a 193-160 loss in Cambridge one month ago.
For Harvard, the loss was a 160.5-139.5 decision at Columbia, the same site where the Crimson will try to win the league title this weekend.
The school that exorcises its regular-season demon will celebrate a championship... unless, of course, one of the deep squads in the EISL, such as Columbia, can make a little history of its own.
For Princeton's sake, several things will need to happen for the Tigers to leave New York City with the title. To start off, its dynamic duo of senior Will Reinhardt and junior Meir Hasbani must live up to expectations. Reinhardt has been the dominant sprinter over the last two years and will need similar performances in the 50 and 100, as well as the relays. Hasbani enters the championships with the season's best times in the 400 IM and the 200 fly, and he's a likely second-best in the 200 IM.
The Tigers will also need to score big points in several races. There are some events that Princeton is simply not strong in, so it must make up those points in other spots. Thursday's 200 IM is one such place; while Harvard's Geoff Rathgeber is the clear favorite, Princeton sports the season's second- (Hasbani), third- (Sami Mardam-Bey), fourth- (Will Schaffer), fifth- (Time Ruse) and sixth-best times (Mike Ott). Getting at least four in the final race would be a major surge in points on the opening day. Princeton could also see big gains in the 1000 free (top three times), the 1650 free (four of the top seven) and the 200 breast (four of the top nine). The young swimmers, like freshmen Robert Griest and Doug Lennox, will need to continue their solid seasons. Griest has been a premier distance swimmer for the Tigers and is the favorite in the 1000, while Lennox has the top time in the 100 fly and the fourth-best time in the 200 fly.
The women's team gained major points from its divers last weekend en route to an Ivy League title, and the men's team will look for the same. Kent Demond and Stuart Malcolm both have the potential to be top performers this weekend, while the overall depth will look to put a couple more divers in the Top 10.
Finally, Princeton will likely need to break Harvard's hold on the relays. The Crimson went 5-for-5 last year and have the top time in each of the five relays this season. It's a 16-point swing between first and second, and with the potential for a tight meet, those points will be huge.
The three-day session begins Thursday with 11 a.m. prelims and 6 p.m. finals. You can follow the action live by clicking here, and a full Princeton recap will be online at GoPrincetonTigers.com at the end of each day.