Dartmouth's men's and women's swimming and diving teams could not keep up with Princeton in a meet in Hanover last Sunday. The women's squad (3-8, 0-6 Ivy) lost to the female Tigers (4-0, 3-0 Ivy) 89-152, while the men's team (1-9, 0-7 EISL) lost to Princeton (4-0, 3-0 EISL) 94-149. The women's team also faced the Univeristy of New Hampshire in its tri-meet, beating the non-conference Wildcats (5-2) 141-102.
For the women, diver Julianne Mifflin '08 placed first in the three-meter dive with her personal-best score of 256.20. Mifflin also earned second place in the one-meter dive with a score of 257.65.
Heather Jankins '09 swam an impressive race in the 100-yard breaststroke, making the turn while dead-even with her UNH competitor at the 50-yard mark before pulling away in the second half of the race with a time of 1 minute and 7.07 seconds.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Hillary Preston '09, Anna Sonstegard '11, Catherine Armstrong '10 and Emily Pizzichemi '10 finished second with a time of 1:44.57.
Despite these impressive performances, co-captain Liz Mancuso '08 said she was not surprised by Princeton's win.
"[Princeton is] the conference champions and are untouchable in the Ivy League," Mancuso said. "I think we were surprised by how many points we beat UNH by. The team swam really well, and it was a great way to end our last home meet."
On the men's side, season-best swims by Andrew Ballentine '09 and Marco Chu '11 in the 400-yard individual medley gave an early boost to the rest of the Big Green, though ultimately the team could not compete with the Tigers.
"We stayed with [Princeton] until one of the breaks, prompting the coach to change their lineup around to try and pull away," co-captain Joe Braunreuther '08 said about Princeton's strategy.
Gordon Russell '08 earned first place 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard freestyle.Russell registered season-best times in these events, at 53.29 and 1:43.45, respectively.
When asked about his two season-best times, Russell replied, "Whatever," and would not elaborate.
Kevin Ellis '09 came in right behind Russell in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing second with a time of 1:44.15.
Drew Wenzel '08 finished first in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races, winning the 50-yard contest by just 0.3 seconds. Wenzel defeated Princeton's top sprinters in both events, with two season-best times of 21.46 and 47.07, respectively.
Diver Andrew Berry '08 won the three-meter dive with a score of 334.65, earning first plac. Berry followed this performance with a second-place finish in the 1-meter dive with a score of 315.50.
Berry is on The Dartmouth Staff.
The meet, which was the teams' last home competition this season, began with a ceremony that honored the accomplishments of the teams' seniors.
"All the seniors take great pride in the fact that we have committed ourselves to Dartmouth swimming and diving for four exceptional years," Mancuso said. "Combined, we have 10 top-10 times [in the Dartmouth record book], five school records, one individual record, and have the highest GPA as a team in the country."
Both teams return to the water on at the University of Maine on Feb. 2. The teams have just a handful of events left before they will compete in the Ivy and EISL championships in late February and early March.
