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Men's Swimming/Diving Eyes Upset Of Harvard In 2008 EISL Championships
March 05, 2008 | Men's Swimming and Diving
The two-time defending EISL champion Princeton men's swimming and diving team has a tall task ahead of it. The Tigers will head to Cambridge, Mass., for the three-day league championship meet, where host Harvard brings a perfect league record and a national Top 25 ranking. Princeton, led by talented junior trio Doug Lennox, Robert Griest and Will Schaffer, will need to rely on its depth once again. Of course, the Tiger depth has done the job the last two championship weekends.
Over the last two EISL championship meets, Princeton has had only one individual champion. Lennox won the 100 fly last year in 47.94, and he added top-eight finishes in both the 100 free and 200 fly. Lennox qualified for the Puerto Rican Olympic team earlier this year and has been one of Princeton's most consistent scorers over the past two years.
The same holds true for both Griest and Schaffer, both of whom earned second-place finishes at the 2007 league meet. Griest, a distance specialist, placed second in the 1000, third in the 1650 and sixth in the 500. He lost to Harvard senior Samuel Wollner by less than .3 of a second in the 1000 and to Wollner and Harvard teammate Eric Lynch in the 1650. Even if he can't win one of the events, Griest will need to lead the distance specialists to strong showings in these events.
Schaffer has had the unfortunate distinction of racing Harvard All-America senior swimmer Geoff Rathgeber throughout his career. Schaffer finished second in the 200 IM last season and was two seconds faster than any other returning swimmer for this year. However, Rathgeber beat Schaffer by nearly four seconds to win the event, and he added a win in the 400 IM. Schaffer had a trio of top-4 finishes at last season's championships, and in all three events, he was the second-highest non-senior finisher.
Other key contributors could be juniors Michael Carter (sprints, mid-distance) and Easton Chen (breast, IM), both of whom experienced championship finals last season.
Three key factors where Princeton will need success from this weekend are:
1) Relays - Princeton didn't win a single relay over the last two years, but with the depth of the 2007-08 Harvard team, every extra point will be crucial. Princeton won the 200 free relay at the 2008 HYP meet, but the Tigers didn't have any better than a third-place finish at last year's league meet. A relay win and a couple of top-three finishes would help the cause.
2) Diving - As a freshman, Mike Papageorge placed second in both the 1-meter and 3-meter EISL diving championships. Diving coach Greg Gunn would love to see his sophomore take one more step up the medal stand this season. Of course, he has two other legitimate contenders in senior Staurt Malcolm and sophomore Dan Dickerson. Malcolm is a former All-America diver (platform) who is plenty experienced in these competitions, while Dickerson has the talent to put together a championship effort any day. Placing three in the championship finals of both events would be a big boost for the Orange and Black.
3) Freshmen - You never really know how a freshman will handle his first championship meet. Princeton has an abundance of talent in its Class of 2011, including Pat Biggs, Colin Hanna, Geoff Faux and Brett Lullo, and any of these could break out with a big weekend. Their ability to handle the pressure and score over the three days could be the key factor in an upset attempt against the host Crimson.
GoPrincetonTigers.com will have nightly updates following each championship session.