The Princeton and University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Ithaca, NY to compete in a double dual meet with Cornell at Teagle Pool this weekend. The diving events were scored on Friday, November 22 while the swimming took place on Saturday, November 23.
This marked the Tigers’ first scored meets of the season. Cornell had amassed a 1-2 (0-2 Ivy) record after beating Boston College but falling to Harvard and Dartmouth. Penn (1-1, 1-0 Ivy) came into the contest riding the wave of its recent victory over Columbia; their only loss was to non-conference UConn.
Cornell got off to a strong start with the diving events. Senior Philip Truong took first in the 1-meter with 300.90 points and second in the 3-meter with 306.75. Princeton’s Mark Manhard won the 3-meter (328.45) and came in second to Truong in the 1-meter (298.35). Penn’s top scoring divers were freshman Jack Stein (fifth in 1-meter) and senior Will Hartje (fifth in 3-meter).
Senior Rhoads Worster of Penn (archive photo courtesy of Penn Athletics)
The 200 medley relay was a tight race between Princeton’s Michael Strand, Jack Pohlmann, Teo D’Alessandro, and Harrison Wagner and Penn’s Philip Hu, Kyle Yu, Rhoads Worster, and Eric Schultz. All the excitement came down to the free anchor, where Wagner outsplit Schultz 20.0 to 20.5 and the Tigers took home first with 1:31.40 to Penn’s 1:31.52. Cornell’s foursome of Dylan Sali, Eric May, Taylor Wilson, and Taylor Adams went 1:34.06. Points also went to Princeton’s relay of En-wei Hu-Van Wright, Daniel Hasler, Oliver Bennett, and Connor Maher with their 1:33.73 finish.
Princeton’s distance swimmers took four of the top six spots in the 1000. Freshman Sam Smiddy (9:32.50) was first; Zach Ridout (9:39.65) third; freshman Lance Rutkin (9:41.27) fourth; and Paul Nolle (x9:46.65) finished sixth but was not scored. The Quakers’ Wes Thomas, who has had a great start to his freshman year, touched second in 9:34.88; his teammate Brendan Crystal (9:43.59) was fifth. Cornell’s top scoring distance scorer was Michael Reynolds (9:53.66).
The Tigers’ D’Alessandro (1:40.12) won the 200 free with classmate Sandy Bole (1:41.25) on his heels. Penn freshman Kevin Su (1:41.63) touched just in front of a fast-charging Hu-Van Wright (1:41.69) of Princeton. Penn’s Sam Ruddy (1:43.58) managed to get his hand to the wall just before top-scoring Big Red Harry Harpham (1:43.79).
Strand of Princeton won the 100 back in 49.58. Behind him there was a lot of freshman talent: Sali of Cornell (second, 49.98), Hu of Penn (fifth, 52.12), Eric Kim of Cornell (sixth, 52.47), Anton Lundin of Princeton (seventh, 52.67). Other point-scorers included Princeton’s Maher (third, 50.25) and Penn’s Dillon McHugh (fourth, 52.03).
The Quakers picked up much-needed points in the 100 breast, going 1-2 with Yu (57.26) and freshman Cole Hurwitz (57.46). Princeton’s Pohlmann (57.66) was third; Victor Luo (57.85) of Cornell, fifth.
Bennett of the Tigers overcame Worster of Penn to claim the 200 fly in 1:51.19. The Big Red’s Wilson(1:53.80) finished third. Also scoring were Princeton’s Caleb Tuten, Cornell’s Carl St. John, and Penn freshman Michael Wen.
In 50 free the top scorers for Princeton were Wagner (first, 20.58), Jeremy Wong (third, 21.03) and freshman Julian Mackrel (fifth, 21.47). Penn’s Schultz (20.91) was second; Alex Porter (21.13), fourth. For the Big Red it was Adams (21.64) and Tim Satterthwaite (21.68).
The Quakers’ Schultz took the 100 free in 45.87. The Tiger trio of D’Alessandro (45.94), Wagner (46.05) and Wong (46.27) went 2-4. Penn’s McHugh (46.61) was fifth. Kevin Kreher (47.36) of the Big Red was sixth.
Princeton’s Maher gave it his all in the final 50 of the 200 back but it wasn’t enough to catch teammate Hu-Van Wright, who emerged victorious 1:48.72 to 1:49.02. Cornell’s Sali took third in 1:50.98. Brian Foley of Penn was fourth with 1:52.99.
Fourth at the 100, Penn’s Cole Hurwitz had the best back-half in the pool and ended up winning the 200 breast in 2:05.00. The Tigers’ Hasler (2:05.47) was second; Cornell’s Luo (2:05.56) took third from Penn’s Yu (2:05.88) with a great last 50. The Quakers’ Bobby Francis did exactly the same thing to Princeton freshman Brett Usinger, winning the battle for fifth, 2:07.62 to 2:07.89.
The Princeton freshmen showed their stripes in the 500 free with Smiddy (4:40.51), Rutkin (4:41.60) and Jeffrey Williamson (4:42.85) going 1-2-3. Penn’s Thomas (4:45.93) was fourth; Cornell’s Ryan Walker (4:46.28), fifth.
The 100 fly, by contrast, was a showcase for the more mature talent: Penn senior Worster (49.69) bested Princeton’s Strand (50.43), Bole (50.53) and Bennett (50.75). Cornell’s Mitch Johnson (52.35) was sixth.
Cornell senior Harry Harpham (archive photo courtesy of Cornell Athletics)
Cornell freshman Sali cruised to victory in the 200 IM with 1:53.31. The Quakers’ Wen (1:54.16) and Francis (1:55.58) were second and third, while Harpham of Cornell (1:56.29) was fourth.
Penn’s 400 free relay team of Porter, McHugh, Worster, and Schultz won a hard-fought and exciting race against the Princeton quartet of Maher, Hu-Van Wright, Wagner, and Bole, getting the win by a mere .01, 3:02.15 to 3:02.16. The Tigers’ relays were all exhibition; second-place points went to Cornell’s May, Adams, Satterthwaite, and Kreher (3:10.98).
Princeton University 203.00 – 92.00 Cornell University
University of Pennsylvania 187.00 – 113.00 Cornell University
Princeton University 172.00 – 123.00 University of Pennsylvania