The men's swim team finished its season at Harvard's Blodgett Pool, finishing ninth out of 10 teams at the Eastern Intercollegiate Swim League Championships.
The Big Green finished with 220 points, just 1.5 points behind eighth place Cornell, a dramatic improvement over last year's 10th place finish.
"The team effort was outstanding," co-Captain David Kramer '96 said. "The fact that we made a close run at Yale, Penn and Cornell -- three teams which beat us in dual meets -- was a sweet way to end my collegiate swimming career. Six shaved heads says a lot about our total commitment."
The 200 yard freestyle relay team of Doug Doucet '98, Jeff Jorgensen '97, Kramer and Tommy Slabaugh '96 put Dartmouth on the board with a 10th place finish in 1:27.14.
Diver Toby Hays '99 scored the team's first individual points taking eighth place in the one meter competition, scoring 420.75 points.
The 400 yard medley relay team of Jon Kenyon '97, Ben Lannon '96, Grier Laughlin '96 and Geoff Walford '99 closed the competition on the first day with a seventh place finish in 3:26.34.
The Big Green finished the first day in tenth place with 49 points, five points behind Brown.
Dartmouth scored its first points of the second day in the 200 yard medley relay. Kenyon, Lannon, Laughlin and Slabaugh combined for a 1:34.33 finish and eighth place.
Michael Hooper '99 scored the first individual points of the day, taking fourth place in the 400 yard individual medley and setting a new school record of 4:00.63.
Lannon finished ninth in the 100 yard breaststroke in 57.35, and Jon Kenyon took fifth in the 100 yard backstroke in 51.61.
The Big Green finished the second day in ninth place with 144 points, only seven points behind Yale.
Laughlin scored the first points of the third day with a ninth place finish in the 200 yard backstroke, touching in 1:51.72.
Rookies Hooper and Hays provided the third day's highlights. Hooper took fifth in the 200 yard butterfly in 1:51.93, while Hays took fifth on the three meter with 466.95 points.
The freshmen class continued its strong performances, as the Big Green closed the meet, swimming the 400 yard freestyle relay. The complete freshman team of Eben Darling, Hooper, Dave Moore and Walford took ninth place, finishing in 3:19.43.
"It was a great way to end a career," Laughlin said. "It was exciting to watch a freshman break my 400 IM record."
For the Big Green seniors, the end brought some mixed emotions with it.
As seniors, we were both happy and sad to be done. It is hard to end something you have been doing for so long in your life, but it will be fun to have some free time."
