Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
2014 AT&T Winter National Championships
Players Mentioned
Double Okubo Win Highlights Wire-To-Wire Victory At Brown Open
December 08, 2014 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Freshman Corey Okubo was one of the most highly touted recruits in a strong freshman class for the Princeton men's swimming and diving team this past year. During the final day of the Brown Open, he showed just a glimpse of that potential, winning two events to lead Princeton to an overall victory.
Princeton, without five of its top swimmers, who competed at the AT&T Winter National Championships, won the Brown Open with 1030 points. Brown finished second with 807 points, while Columbia finished third with 704. Princeton also earned dual meet wins over both Brown and Dartmouth, though the exact meet scores aren't yet known.
Zach Ridout opened the final session Sunday with a second-place finish in the mile (15:34.62). As was the case most of the weekend, Princeton wasted no time getting back in the win column. Okubo took the 200 back in 1:45.01, while teammate Connor Maher finished third in 1:45.87.
Princeton had three finishers in the top five of the 100 free, including a runner-up performance by Jeremy Wong (44.91). Freshman Alex Lewis (45.25) and senior Harrison Wagner (45.42) weren't far behind.
Junior Jack Pohlmann had a dominant performance in the 200 breast, going 2:01.18 to win by more than 1.5 seconds. Okubo followed up with his second win of the day, taking the 200 fly in 1:46.44. He also cleared the field by more than 1.5 seconds, but teammate Marco Bove held off swimmers from both Columbia and Brown to take second in 1:48.22.
Princeton closed the meet in style, going 1-2 in the 400 free relay. The quartet of Ben Schafer, Lewis, Julian Mackrel and Wong win the event in 2:57.60, while the quartet of David Paulk, Maher, Michael Hauss and Zach Buerger took second in 2:58.97.
It concluded a week with several highlights for Princeton. That stretch began Thursday, when junior Teo D'Alessandro placed sixth in the 'A' final of the 200 IM at the Winter Nationals. Sophomore Sam Smiddy, the reigning Ivy League 400 IM champion, reached the C final at Nationals.
Okubo moved into the all-time Princeton Top 10 in three events during the week. He now stands fourth in both the 200 back and the 400 IM, and seventh in the 200 fly. Other swimmers who moved up were Pohlmann (fourth, 100 breast) and Schafer (ninth, 100 fly).
Princeton is now off for the holiday break, but will return to DeNunzio Jan. 3 at 2 pm to compete against Navy.