After three years of winless seasons in the Ivy League, the men's swimming team was determined to change tradition this year. The Big Green were able to do just that by coming from behind to defeat Ivy rival Brown 122-121 on Saturday.
Before the second diving break at the meet, the Big Green were down by seven points. But with five male divers this year (compared to only one last year) Dartmouth managed to earn some needed points in the diving competition to make up for the deficit.
Mark Devlin '98 led the crew with a sixth place finish on the one meter dive with a score of 215 and a seventh place finish on the three meter dive with a score of 183.
Following the diving competition, the excitement began to build as the Big Green gained on Brown until Dartmouth trailed by only one point going into the last relay.
When Brown took the early lead, opportunities were scarce for the Big Green, but the team remained positive.
"I found the meet particularly rewarding because we really came together as a team," Grier Laughlin '96 said. "The seniors had never beaten Brown before, and we were down the whole meet."
Senior leadership was evident when the chance for a victory came down to the final relay's anchor, Mark Shukovsky '95. Shukovsky, a seasoned distance freestyler, kicked in his sprinting ability on the final leg of the race and passed his Brown opponent, giving Dartmouth the one point lead and the victory.
"Mark rose to the challenge throughout the entire meet," Richard Petty '97 said. "Every race he was in, he sprinted past his nearest competitors on the last leg. When I saw him anchoring the last relay, I knew we would win. Although Mark can not be considered a sprinter, there was no way that the Brown swimmer possessed the determination necessary to beat Mark."
Laughlin, another swimmer in the last relay, also competed well against Brown, winning the 200 meter backstroke in 1.556 minutes.
Following the impressive win against Brown, the Big Green came up dry against a seasoned Navy team. Navy, with one of the strongest divers in the nation, Nate Smith, came into the meet well prepared, but Dartmouth wasn't quite ready to face the strong opponent because Saturday's competition was the first regular season meet for the Big Green.
Navy overpowered Dartmouth in a 175-67 rout, but considering the highly competitive nature of the Navy team, the Big Green were satisfied with pulling off their first Ivy win and starting their season with an even record of 1-1.
The Dartmouth team will have one more home meet on Dec. 8 against the University of New Hampshire at 5 p.m. After that, the men will travel to Hawaii for their annual winter trip. Dartmouth will continue Ivy competition after break when they travel to Harvard Jan. 6.
