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Players Mentioned
Men's Swimming/Diving Welcomes Strong Field For 2015 Big Al Open
December 02, 2015 | Men's Swimming and Diving
The reigning Ivy League champion Princeton men's swimming and diving team will host the 2015 Big Al Open this weekend at DeNunzio Pool to conclude an impressive fall performance by the Tigers. All six sessions of the three-day meet will be streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network (see links below).
The 2015 Big Al Open • Dec. 4-6, DeNunzio Pool
Teams: Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Rider, Villanova
Coverage: Live Video l Live Results
Schedule/Event Order: See bottom of release
The Princeton men are 2-0 on the dual season and performed well at the Penn State Open, despite missing several of its top swimmers due to the Minnesota Pro Series event that same weekend.
"We are excited about hosting our Big Al Open this week," assistant coach Mike Joyce said. "We've got some great competition coming into town that will challenge our guys to swim and dive at their season bests. We're welcoming teams from within the Ivy League and other teams outside of the conference. It should be a great experience for all of our guys.
"Our men were pretty good against Penn and Cornell, but there are still a lot of little things we need to work on," Joyce added. "Hopefully, we see some of those little things improved upon at Big Al."
This will be Princeton's first Big Al Open since 2013 — the Tigers competed at the Brown Open last December — and the Tiger upperclassmen have a good understanding of how special this meet can be.
"Big Al is always a very exciting meet, it's great to compete at home in front of alumni, parents and friends," senior Marco Bove said. "I definitely remember the support from stands during every session; there is a lot of hype and that is what makes this meet so intense. It's fun to have the possibility to race in prelims, finals and relays against some of the Ivy's top swimmers, especially in preparation for HYP and Ivies."
The three-day, six-session meet mirrors the Ivy League championships in many ways, including the event order (see below). While H-Y-P is a two-day meet at the end of January, this weekend will give the team an early preparation for Ivies. It also serves as the dual meets for Princeton against both Brown and Dartmouth.
"This meet is a crucial step for the team, it sets the tone for the second part of the season and really tells us what we can achieve individually but more importantly as a team," Bove said. "It will be the first three-day meet of the year and even though winning the Ivy League championships will remain our main goal we know that this intermediate step is fundamental for the success we want to accomplish inside and outside of the pool. Many of us will have to start thinking about their three events and/or relays but especially on what they will have to work on for the following hard weeks of training before taper starts.
"It's a unique opportunity for the freshman class to show the whole Princeton family what they can bring to this team and for the sophomores, juniors and seniors to act as leaders," he added.
One of the freshman who will get his first taste of a big event in DeNunzio Pool is Cole Buese, who won three events during the Penn State Open.
"Big Al is our first chance to swim with a little extra rest, and the times that are swum help the coaches begin to decide who will be selected for the Ivy team," he said. "As for experience, this will be my first time swimming a prelims/finals meet for Princeton. I'll take the meet as a learning experience and make changes to my training and to my approach to Ivys based on how I swim.
"I competed at some of the fastest pools in the country in high school, yet DeNunzio is easily one of my favorite facilities," Buese added. "It provides the team with a lot of different training opportunities and is historically a great pool for fast swimming. I'm looking forward to swimming at our first multi-team meet this weekend and am excited to see the team's hard training transition into fast swims in the pool."
Friday • Prelims 11 am; Finals 6 pm
Women's / Men's 200 Free Relay
Women's / Men's 500 Free
Women's / Men's 200 IM
Women's / Men's 50 Free
break
Women's / Men's 400 Medley Relay
Friday Diving
2 pm • Men's 1M Prelims
7 pm • Men's 1M Finals
Saturday • Prelims 11 am; Finals 6 pm
Women's / Men's 200 Medley Relay
Women's / Men's 400 IM
Women's / Men's 100 Fly
Women's / Men's 200 Free
Women's / Men's 100 Breast
Women's / Men's 100 Back
break
Women's / Men's 800 Free Relay
Saturday Diving
12 pm • Women's 1M Prelims
4 pm • Men's 3M Prelims
6:30 pm • Women's 1M Finals
7:45 pm • Men's 3M Finals
Sunday • Prelims 10 am; Finals 5 pm
Women's / Men's 1650 Free
Women's / Men's 200 Back
Women's / Men's 100 Free
Women's / Men's 200 Breast
Women's / Men's 200 Fly
break
Women's / Men's 400 Free Relay
Sunday Diving
1:30 pm • Women's 3M Prelims
6 pm • Women's 3M Finals