The women finished the weekend by avenging last year's loss to Cornell but lost to both to Harvard and Colgate.
The men were unable to secure a win, opening the season 0-3 after losing to the Big Red and the Crimson on Saturday and the Raiders on Sunday.
The Big Green men faced formidable competition, as the Crimson were coming off a 2007-2008 first-place finish in the Ivy League, winning the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championship and placing 31st at NCAA championship. Harvard entered this season ranked 25th in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America national poll, and Dartmouth head coach Jim Wilson even went as far as to call the Crimson, "unbeatable."
Harvard includes three swimmers who competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials: senior co-captain David Guernsey, senior Bill Jones and junior Alex Meyer. Cornell also features senior captains Phil Baity and Wes Newman, who swam at the U.S. and Canadian Olympic trials, respectively.
Last season, the Big Green finished ninth in the EISL championships and in last place in the Ivy League, going 0-8 in league meets and 2-10 overall.
The graduation of the Class of 2008 left only three seniors on the Dartmouth men's squad, including Kevin Ellis '09, Chris Koppel '09 and captain Andrew Ballentine '09.
In 2007, Harvard routed Dartmouth 226-72 at the tri-meet in Hanover, with the Big Green's only wins coming in the diving events.
This year's tri-meet yielded little difference from last year's result, as it was all Harvard at Blodgett Pool on Saturday. The Crimson defeated Dartmouth, 253-47, and edged out a victory over Cornell, 158-142. Harvard senior Eric Lynch, junior Alex Meyer and sophomore Blake Lewkowitz swept the top three spots for the Crimson in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Sophomore Jordan Diekema got two close wins in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke races, squeaking by Cornell's Phil Baity by .27 and .43 seconds, respectively. Sophomore Zac Ranta won both diving events for the Crimson.
In addition to the Harvard loss, the Big Green also lost to Cornell, 246-54. Dartmouth did not win a single event in the tri-meet. Dartmouth's best finish came from John Hill '12, one of 11 freshmen on the team. Hill finished fifth in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:43.95. Michael Ahern '12 finished seventh in the 100-yard backstroke in 53.80 and eighth in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:56.41.
In the diving events, Michael Brown '11 was the Big Green's top finisher, taking fifth in the 3-meter dive with a score of 233.5.
Last year, the Dartmouth women's team finished seventh in the EISL championship meet and last in the Ivy League, going 0-7 in the conference and 4-10 overall. Despite losing key swimmers to graduation, the team, captained by Hillary Preston '09 and Heather Jankins '09, welcomed eight freshmen to the squad this year.
In last year's season-opener in Hanover, Harvard defeated Dartmouth, 174-124, and Cornell beat the Big Green, 161-139.
This time around, the Big Green split its meets, defeating Cornell, 181-119, and losing to Harvard, 181-114. Maddie Steiner '11 had a big day for Dartmouth, finishing first in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:53.86. Steiner also finished second in both the 100-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle.
"Maddie Steiner was phenomenal up and down, the best swimmer or diver of the weekend," Wilson said. "To have a top-10 performance time this early in the season is amazing."
Dartmouth did particularly well in the 100-yard butterfly, with Caitlin Nicholson '12, Kelsey Clark '11 and Virginia Selden '11 finishing in second, third and fourth place, respectively. The top diver for the women's team was Erica Serpico '12, who scored 235.10 in the 1-meter dive, taking second place.
Once again, though, it was Harvard that lit up the scoreboard, winning 13 of the 14 events it entered. Crimson sophomore Katie Mills took first in the 500-yard free, 13 seconds ahead of Dartmouth's Steiner.
On Sunday, both teams traveled to Hamilton, N.Y., to take on Colgate. The Colgate women won the 2008 Patriot League title, and they showed why, taking care of Dartmouth, 159-82. The Raiders had 11 of 13 first place finishes, including three sweeps of the top three spots, improving to 4-0 this season.
A bright spot for the Big Green women's team on Sunday came in diving. Dartmouth swept the first three spots in the 1-meter dive and took first and second in the 3-meter event. Erica Serpico '12 finished first in both events.
Dartmouth took second and fourth in the 200-yard medley relay and took second in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Steiner had another impressive meet, finishing second in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle.
Meanwhile, the men fell, 143-98, to wrap up a winless opening weekend. The Colgate men's team finished last year 1-10, with a fifth place finish at the Patriot League championships. In diving, Brown won the 1-meter event with a score of 301.95, and Chris Plante '12 won the 3-meter event with a score of 268.80. Ahern had an easy win in the 200-yard backstroke, and Jack Driessen '12 won the 200-yard breaststroke.
"We were able to see how we perform under pressure," Wilson said, "Despite the results, I'm happy with the way we swam."
The Big Green men travel to the United States Naval Academy to face Navy and Brown on Saturday in Annapolis, Md., while the women's squad hosts Brown on Sunday in Hanover.
