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Princeton University
Ivy Day 3
Players Mentioned
Comeback For The Ages! Tigers Rally For Incredible Ivy League Championship
February 28, 2016 | Men's Swimming and Diving
COMPLETE RESULTS
Sandy Bole turned for home, turned for a meet record and the most improbable of Ivy League championships, and he sent his orange-shirted poolside teammates into an absolute frenzy.
Those teammates had trailed Harvard for two and a half days. They trailed Harvard by 116.5 points only four events earlier.
That's right: one hundred sixteen and a half points.
That deficit made those final 25 yards all the sweeter.
Bole finished the comeback in epic fashion, as he capped a 400 free relay performance by En-Wei Hu-Van Wright, Julian Mackrel and Ben Schafer with an Ivy League record time of 2:52.06. That win clinched the program's 31st Ivy League championship, as well as its seventh in the last eight years.
When the @PUCSDT dream becomes a championship reality! pic.twitter.com/gH3cC7Osrg
— Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS) February 28, 2016
“It was an incredible way to end my career,” senior tri-captain Teo D'Alessandro, who won his third straight 200 IM title Thursday night, said afterwards. “We fought our way back and it was inspiring to see our team, no matter if they were underclassmen or upperclassmen, rally around each other and bring the team back. I was extremely proud and it was as exciting of a finish to my career as I could imagine.”
Princeton, which didn't lead at any point during the championship weekend until the 19th of 21 events, took the title with 1520.5 points. Harvard, which led the other 18 events and brought out the absolute best in its top Ivy rival, took second with 1499 points, while Penn finished third with 1213.5 points.
The championship journey began with a strong preliminary session, and then a strong fifth-place swim by junior Sam Smiddy in the mile. His time of 15:10.43 gave the Tigers some much-needed points, especially since Harvard had four championship qualifiers coming in the next event.
That event was the 200 back, and Princeton sophomore Corey Okubo was not going to let Harvard maximize its point total in the final. He topped Crimson junior Jack Manchester to win the title in 1:43.07. Freshman Cole Buese took sixth in 1:44.11, but he did so at the expense of two Harvard swimmers behind him.
That was what the night was all about — a small win here, a small win there. And then the 200 fly, but we'll get to that later.
Tiger junior En-Wei Hu-Van Wright followed his win in the 100 back by sharing the championship in the 100 free in 43.19. He was actually fourth after 25 yards, but he moved to second at the midway point. He trailed Penn's Eric Schultz with 25 to go, but he had just enough to match Schultz' time of 43.19 for his second title of the weekend.
Bole took third in the event in 43.58, while Schafer took fifth in 43.73 and sophomore Alexander Lewis took sixth in 43.92.
All of the sudden, that massive deficit seemed manageable.
Senior tri-captains Byron Sanborn (second, 1:56.22) and Jack Pohlmann (seventh, 1:57.87) aided the rally in the 200 breast. At that point, the 18th event, Harvard led 1320-1286.5.
Then came the 200 fly.
In one way, Harvard could feel good about the event. Crimson senior Jacob Luna rallied in the final 25 to take the title.
On the other hand, Princeton had one hand touch the wall. Then another, and another, and then one more. Four 'A' finalists, led by Okubo's second-place time of 1:44.44 and senior Marco Bove's third-place time of 1:44.62, finally got the Tigers to the top of the team points race. Buese took sixth in 1:45.82, while sophomore Zach Buerger finished eighth in 1:46.55.
From there, all eyes turned to the diving area, where both Princeton and Harvard had two A finalists in the 3-meter final. One was senior Noam Altman-Kurosaki, who snuck into his first championship final by less than two points during Friday's preliminary session.
Suffice to say, he made the absolute most of his championship experience. Altman-Kurosaki nailed his final dive to place third — higher than either of the Crimson divers — with 324.55. points. Junior Nathan Makarewicz added a fifth-place finish with 313.00 points, and the duo assured Princeton that only a top-two finish in the 400 free relay would be necessary to bring the Bob Kiphuth Trophy back to DeNunzio Pool.
They didn't worry about second, though. They won, and they did so in style.
"My main goal for Ivies was having the seniors go out on top," Okubo said. "I have never been on a team where so much of our character comes from our leaders. They have been an amazing help the two years I have been here and this win is the least we can do for them. Knowing the last finals session of the meet was my final opportunity to turn things around was what got me through the double. It was also great having Cole Buese by my side through every one of my events. It made it easier knowing someone was doubling up as well.
"I have also never been in such close meet but it made our victory just that much sweeter," he added.
Great moment, as former assistant coach @MitchDaltonNJT, interviews @PUCSDT head coach Rob Orr. pic.twitter.com/g9NeNep5YH
— Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS) February 28, 2016