Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Ivy League Day Two
Players Mentioned
Lennox, Hanna Power Men's Swimming/Diving To Big Lead After Second Day Of Ivy Championships
March 07, 2009 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Highlighted by a brilliant effort from senior tri-captain Doug Lennox, the Princeton men's swimming and diving team continued to build on its sizable lead during the second day of the 2009 Ivy League Championships. The 17th-ranked Tigers ended the second day with 1110.5 points, while Harvard stands second with 876.5 points.
Princeton opened the second championship session with a runner-up finish in the 200 free relay. The quartet of Charlie Wang, Jonathan Christensen, Michael Monovoukas and Mike Carter placed second to Harvard with a time of 1:28.07. The Crimson won the event with a meet-record time of 1:27.61.
Crimson junior Alex Meyer added a meet record of his own when he won the 1000 in a time of 8:57.28. While Harvard did take the first three spots, but Princeton still had a handful of competitors reach the championship finals. Freshman Travis McNamara, the 500 champion during Thursday's session, placed fourth in 9:01.91, while sophomore Patrick Biggs placed fifth in 9:02.21. Senior tri-captain Robert Griest rounded out the finals with a seventh-place finish in 9:07.90.
The 400 IM final turned into a Princeton showdown between senior co-captain Will Schaffer and sophomore Colin Hanna. Schaffer, the 200 IM champion, led through the fly, but Hanna took over in the backstroke and never let the lead get away. He won the event with an NCAA B-cut time of 3:47.86, while Schaffer placed second in 3:48.79. Princeton had half of the championship finalists, as senior Bern Ebersole placed seventh in 3:58.46 and junior Chris Quemana placed eighth in 4:00.49.
Lennox put on an absolute show in the 100 fly championship final. He came into the weekend with the sixth-best time in the event, and he easily beat that mark to win his second 100 fly title in three years. The NCAA A-cut mark was 46.04, and Lennox cut nearly a full second off that time with a Princeton, DeNunzio Pool and meet record time of 45.12. That time topped the second-place time of Harvard's Bill Jones by one full second, despite Jones recording what would have been a meet-record time. Tiger seniors Dan Eckel (47.65) and Carter (47.98) ended up fifth and sixth in the championship finals, while Monovoukas took 12th overall in 48.97.
Cornell senior Wes Newman won the 200 free in a meet-record time of 1:34.35, while Princeton junior Jonathan Hartmann placed second in a B-cut time of 1:35.46. Tiger freshman Colin Cordes placed fourth overall in 1:36.92, while junior A.J. Kennedy took eighth in 1:42.33.
An all-freshman showdown in the 100 breast final went to Penn's Brendan McHugh, who won the event in 53.97. Princeton's Christensen placed second in a B-cut time of 54.33, while Cornell's Michael Cai took third in 54.51. Princeton senior Easton Chen took seventh overall in 55.84. Another strong effort by a Princeton freshman came in the 100 back, as Wang placed fifth overall in a time of 49.48. Kennedy added an 11th-place finish in 50.49.
The final event of the night was the 800 free relay, which Princeton won in an Ivy League record time of 6:24.75. The quartet of Lennox, Cordes, McNamara and Hartmann won the event by more than six seconds over Harvard. Lennox continued his magical night by breaking Newman's meet record in the 200 free when he posted an opening-leg time of 1:33.50. He ignited a performance that broke an 11-year Harvard record by more than one full second.
Princeton will try to complete its title chase Saturday at 6 p.m. during the final championship session of the weekend. Saturday's order of events will be: the 1650 free, the 200 back, the 100 free, the 200 breast, the 200 fly, the 3-meter diving final and the 400 free relay.