In their last home meet, the senior members of the men's swimming team were looking to win their first Ivy League meet in two years last Saturday against Army. They didn't get it. The team lost 141-99, dropping its record to 1-9-1, 0-6-1 in the E.I.S.L.
The meet began inauspiciously. Army's 400 medley relay team swam five seconds faster than they had the week before, beating Dartmouth by four seconds. In the 1000 freestyle, Doug Doucet '98 lost by a second after leading for most of the race. The Big Green were also minus Captain Mark Shukovsky '95. Without its other distance man, Dartmouth only took fifth and sixth, leaving the team behind 27-9 after two events.
The only bright spot in the first half of the meet came when Jeff Jorgensen '97 shattered his previous season best time in the 50 freestyle by eight tenths of a second, finishing in 22.63. Unfortunately, it was also one of Army's strongest events and Jorgensen finished fifth.
The Big Green also struggled on the diving board. On the one meter board, Grant Cerny '95 took second with 213.23. Alex Katz '98 took fourth with 195.53 points, followed by Mark Devlin '98 with 188.1 points.
On the three meter, Cerny fell to fifth with 173.25 points. Devlin, however, scored 221.1 to take second. Katz took fourth with 186.525 points.
In the second half of the meet, Jon Kenyon '97 took second in the 100 freestyle in 48.06 seconds, only a tenth behind the winner, leaving Dartmouth down 106-44. But the Big Green came back behind Grier Laughlin '96 and their breast-strokers. Laughlin won the 200 backstroke in a 1:54.87. The breaststrokers finished one-two-three in the 200 breaststroke. Ben Lannon '96 won the event with a 2:12.42, followed by Nick Gansner '97 in 2:16.09 and John Marshall '95 in 2:20.54. That made the score 141-84.
"I am very excited because our times are coming down in right on schedule for Easterns," Laughlin said. "Personally, I have been feeling better and better and the races have been getting easier and easier."
The highlight of the second half of the meet was the 400 freestyle relay. Louis Tucker '95, Chris Foppiani '98, Ross Downey '95 and Thomas Slabaugh '96 combined to win. Dartmouth took the lead going into Downey's leg. Downey extended the lead going into the final leg. Slabaugh lead Dartmouth to victory and 11 points with a strong second fifty to edge out Army 3:19.75 to 3:20.47.
The meet ends the Big Green's home season. The team has two meets left. The team faces Yale next. The meet promises to be a tough one, as Yale remains entrenched in the top half of the Ivy League. In four weeks the team will travel to the Eastern Championships where it will have an opportunity to take make up for all the close races and all the close meets it has lost this season.
