Columbia University
PRINCETON*
Men's Swimming & Diving Edged by Defending League Champion Princeton, 153-147
1/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
NEW YORK, N.Y. ? Princeton swept the second-to-last event of the day to put the meet out of reach and edge Columbia, 153-147, at Uris Swim Center. Junior diver Justin Reardon had an NCAA Zone qualifying score on the one-meter board for the Lions.
Following the 100 free, the Lions owned their largest meet of the afternoon at 14 points as sophomore Hyun Lee had his second victory of the day in 45.64. Senior captain Tobin White capped a one-two finish.
However, Princeton pulled back within five, 125-120, as Robert Griest led a one-three finish in the 500 free. Another one-three finish for the Tigers in the 100 fly ? featuring a pool-record time of 49.43 by Doug Lennon ? put Princeton back on top, 133-131, with two events to go.
In the 200 individual medley, Darren Pagan held second place midway through the event, but two additional Tigers snuck by in the final 100 yards to give Princeton a commanding 15-point lead, 149-134, with only one event to go.
“Darren competed really hard,” head coach Jim Bolster noted.
A victory over Princeton would have been the first in the 23-year tenure of Bolster.
“It was a great meet,” he said. “We swam really well. To take on the defending Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League Champion less than 24 hours after getting back from our training trip took some nerve.”
Princeton opened up a 58-35 advantage after five of the meet's 16 events. At that point, the Lions began to surge. In the 100 breaststroke, Michael Nelson led a 1-2-3 sweep of the event to pull the Lions within 10 points, 61-51. He swam 58.93, followed by teammates Eric Tang and Zach Glassman.
In the 200 fly, Hyun Lee built an early lead and held on to win in 1:49.89, despite a late rally in the closing lap from Princeton's Eckel and Meir Hasbani. Columbia was within nine, 70-61.
For Lee, it was his first meet back after a semester training to qualify for the Asian Olympics. He narrowly missed qualifying as a representative of South Korea.
“It was a shot in the arm and exactly what the team needed,” Bolster said of the return of Lee, who won two individual events, was second in the 500 free and led off the Lions' winning 200 free relay.
The Lions got over the hump in the 50 free as Tobin White (21.29) and Steven Ko (21.58) plowed to a one-two finish to give the Lions their first lead of the meet, 76-74, entering the one-meter diving.
In that event, Justin Reardon posted an NCAA Zone qualifying score of 304.95 to win the event by less than 10 points over Princeton's Michael Papageorge. Reardon took third in the three-meter diving to open the meet.
In the first swimming event, the Lions got off to a quick start with a one-three finish. Michael Nelson overtook Princeton's top team in the breaststroke leg and Steven Ko (fly) and Tobin White (free) extended the lead to win in 1:33.27. Luke Fitzpatrick led off the relay for the winning foursome.
Sophomore Zach Glassman won the 200 breast in 2:07.10. In the 1000 free, sophomore Cedric Cheung-Lau finished second in 9:36.70. In what proved to be a heartbreaking loss, Kevin Wakefield finished second by 1/100 of a second in the 200 free 1:40.29.
“I was proud of the way we competed,” said Bolster. “It was an awfully fun meet.”
The Lions (3-4, 2-3 EISL) host Bucknell on swimming's Homecoming on Saturday, January 20 at 4 p.m.
Players Mentioned
