Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Ivy Championships Day 3
Players Mentioned
Tigers Cap Year-Long "Decision" With Wire-To-Wire Win At Ivy Championships
March 01, 2015 | Men's Swimming and Diving
COMPLETE RESULTS
Decide.
It was a season-long motto for the Princeton men's swimming and diving team this year. Developed by the senior class before the first official practice, Princeton had its mind set on making the right decisions this season after relinquishing the Ivy League championship following a five-year run last season.
Weekends? Good decisions.
Recovery? Good decisions.
Practice? Good decisions.
Those all led up to the last 72 hours, when a fit, focused Princeton squad hosted the Ivy League Championships with one sole goal in mind — to reclaim the Ivy League crown.
And they did so, to borrow a boxing term, by unanimous decision.
Princeton went wire-to-wire to claim its 30th Ivy League championship; the Tigers built a triple-digit lead after a brilliant first day and never let the rest of the league back into the meet. And it closed its championship run in style, capping a sweep of the relays with an A-cut finish in the 400 free relay.
“I'm very proud of the guys for a great performance against a tough league,” head coach Rob Orr said. “It's always extra special to compete and win here at DeNunzio, and I commend our terrific alumni for bringing the extra energy to our building all weekend.”
Princeton won the meet with 1519 points, while defending champion Harvard took second with 1285.5 points. Yale took third (1162.5), while Penn finished fourth (1042.5).
“We resisted the urge for instant gratification,” assistant coach Mitch Dalton said. “We trained through H-Y-P, we swam hard through Brown, and we swam Top-10 schools knowing what would happen. We didn't want any cheap wins, but we wanted to be ready for this weekend. That can be tough for guys, but they stayed true to our season-long goal, and they earned the ultimate prize this weekend.”
Though Princeton had all but clinched the title during the preliminary session, the Tigers still went out to put on a show Saturday night before a capacity crowd in DeNunzio. Sophomore Sam Smiddy opened the final session with a fourth-place finish in the mile in 15:07.89, while junior Zach Ridout took eighth in 15:22.73.
Senior Connor Maher took fourth in the 200 back in 1:43.73, while freshman teammate Corey Okubo finished fifth in 1:43.86. Senior Harrison Wagner, who won the 50 free title during the critical Thursday opening, added a third-place finish in the 100 in 43.56. Junior Sandy Bole took sixth in 43.68, while sophomore Julian Mackrel took eighth in 44.08.
Junior Jack Pohlmann added a third-place finish in the 200 breast (1:56.21), while classmate Byron Sanborn took eighth in 1:57.31. Okubo, who set the Ivy League record in the 400 IM Friday, added a runner-up finish in the 200 fly in 1:44.52. Okubo set off a 2-3-4 finish for Princeton; freshman Zach Buerger took third in 1:44.95, while junior Marco Bove took fourth in 1:45.54.
Princeton senior Michael Manhard concluded his diving career with a third-place finish in the 3-meter competition with 347.80 points, while sophomore Nathan Makarewicz took sixth with 312.80 points.
By that time, the team title had long been decided, and Princeton's final goal was to complete the relay sweep. Bole led off the 400 free relay in 43.38, while Wagner followed in 43.11 to get Princeton within a half second of leader Columbia with two legs to go.
Mackrel changed the order on the third leg, going 43.12 to set the table for Maher — who sat out the 2012 Ivy Championships in DeNunzio due to injury. He was given the final swim of the meet for Princeton, and he made it a magical one. He went 43.43 to touch the wall in an A-cut time of 2:53.04 to win the championship event.
All that was left from there was the trophy presentation and a celebratory leap into the DeNunzio Pool.
In a year filled with good decisions, this one was the easiest to make.