Princeton University Athletics
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Men's Swimming/Diving Opens Ivy Schedule Friday Against Penn, Cornell
November 18, 2009 | Men's Swimming and Diving
After several successful season-opening performances at last weekend's Big Al Open, the Princeton men's swimming and diving team will open its 2009-10 regular season this Friday night against both Penn and Cornell.
Princeton is the reigning Ivy League champion and hosted this tri-meet last year; the Tigers earned wins of 194-106 over Cornell and 175-125 over Penn. The Big Red, led by a strong senior class, battled back to place third at the league championship meet, while Penn took sixth overall. The Quakers are coming off a 161-139 win over Columbia last weekend, while Cornell split a tri-meet with Harvard (177-123 loss) and Dartmouth (207-93 win).
The Tigers will begin a home-friendly Ivy League schedule this weekend, as they will host five of their seven Ivy League rivals at DeNunzio Pool this season. After this weekend, Princeton fans won't be able to see the Tigers compete until the final weekend of January, as a pair of road events and the winter break will keep DeNunzio Pool quiet until Jan. 29.
Princeton got several individual wins last weekend, including ones from juniors Colin Hanna and Geoff Faux, as well as ones from sophomores Jon Christensen, Colin Cordes and Travis McNamara. Of that group, Christensen could be in for the most interesting showdowns this weekend. He and fellow sophomore Brendan McHugh of Penn split the 100 and 200 breast titles at the 2009 Ivy League championship meet. McHugh won the 100, while Christensen came back the next night to win the 200; in both cases, the winning margin was less than one second.
Diving could also provide an early test. Princeton has the reigning Ivy League champion in both the one- and three-meter diving championships in Dan Dickerson, as well as former All-Ivy performer Michael Papageorge. Freshman Stevie Vines made a quick impact last weekend by winning the three-meter competition and qualifying for the NCAA Zone A competition. Penn brings sophomore Jeff Cragg, who earned All-Ivy honors last season and finished in the top three in both events.
Below the event schedule is a "TigerCam" preseason video, shot by the women's swimming and diving team, of the preseason training trip to Coral Gables, Fla. While it focuses moreso on the women's program, there is plenty of interesting clips featuring men's swimmers and coaches.
Friday's Order Of Events
200 Medley Relay
1000 Free
200 Free
100 Back
100 Breast
200 Fly
50 Free
Diving • Swim Break
100 Free
200 Back
200 Breast
500 Free
100 Fly
Diving • Swim Break
200 IM
400 Free Relay