Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Big Al Open
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Players Mentioned
Men's Swimming/Diving Posts Strong Opening Night At Big Al Open
December 05, 2008 | Men's Swimming and Diving
A pair of relay victories and two second-place individual performances by sophomore Colin Hanna led the 22nd-ranked Princeton men's swimming and diving team to a terrific opening night at the three-day Big Al Open, held at DeNunzio Pool. Princeton has 311 team points, only 1.5 points behind sixth-ranked Florida.
The night began with a Princeton victory in the 200 free relay. The team of Doug Lennox, Geoff Faux, Colin Cordes and Michael Carter won the event in 1:20.35, an NCAA B-cut time. The time was more than a second faster than Florida's top relay team and gave Princeton an early edge in the competition.
Florida would go ahead in the first individual event of the night, the 500 free, when Gator Jeffrey Raymond set a pool record with a winning time of 4:18.19. Hanna placed second in the event with a B-cut time of 4:21.85, while teammate and senior tri-captain Robert Griest placed 6th in 4:26.92.
Hanna wasted little time recovering from his strong 500 swim and came back with a second-place time of 1:48.92 in the 200 IM. One of the top IM groups annually in the Ivy League, Princeton had three of the top six finishers in the event. Christopher Quemana took fifth in the event with a time of 1:50.73, while Will Schaffer placed sixth in 1:51.70. All three were finalists in the event at the 2008 EISL championships, with Schaffer leading the way with a second-place finish.
Carter was Princeton's top finisher in the 50 free, taking 4th in 20.63. In the final event of the evening, the 400 medley relay team of Lennox, Jon Christensen, Michael Carter and Jon Hartmann placed first in 3:17.51.
The following is the remainder of the schedule for the Big Al Open:
SATURDAY (prelims at 11, finals at 7)
W 200 medley relay
M 200 medley relay
W 400 IM
M 400 IM
W 100 fly
M 100 fly
W 200 free
M 200 free
W 100 breast
M 100 breast
W 100 back
M 100 back
3M diving prelims
at 1:30 p.m.
SUNDAY (prelims at 10, finals at 6)
W 200 back
M 200 back
W 100 free
M 100 free
W 200 breast
M 200 breast
W 200 fly
M 200 fly
W/M 1650 free (all but
fastest heat), to begin
around 4 p.m.