Princeton Men Take Rob Orr Past 300 Wins in Tri-Meet Against Penn and Cornell

Princeton men’s head coach Rob Orr had 299 wins to his name headed into the tri-meet against Penn and Cornell at Princeton on Friday. All he needed was one more to join the 300 Club. He got two.

It wasn’t easy, though. The Tigers had to fight for every point, including the final relay. In the end, Princeton defeated Cornell 160-140 and Penn 192-107, while Cornell beat Penn 181-118. Full results here.

Princeton’s 200 medley relay of Michael Strand (22.49), Teo D’Alessandro (24.78), Connor Maher (21.60), and Harrison Wagner (19.51) went 1:28.38 to open the meet. Cornell (Dylan Sali, Alex Evdokimov, Jack Brenneman, and Taylor Adams) went 1:29.23 for second and Penn (Philip Hu, Kyle Yu, Michael Wen, and Eric Schultz) took third with 1:30.22.

Penn and Cornell’s distance freestylers had already notched good early-season swims before heading to DeNunzio Pool and they all improved on their previous performances against Princeton. Penn’s Chris Swanson (9:14.10) and Alex Peterson (9:15.38) both held off Samuel Smiddy (9:16.08) and the Cornell distance duo, freshmen Ryan Sharkey (9:19.34) and Brandon Sweezer (9:22.12). Swanson doubled up with a win in the 500 as well, going 4:29.87 over Sharkey’s 4:30.14 and David Paulk of Princeton’s 4:32.36. Princeton’s D’Alessandro (1:38.23) and Paulk (1:39.35) went 1-2 in the 200 free; Kevin Su of Penn (1:39.81) was just behind the leaders.

Cornell’s Sali swept the backstroke events, winning the 100 in 47.88 and the 200 in 1:46.42. Princeton’s Michael Strand (49.60) and Andrew Helber (50.09) touched ahead of Penn’s Hu (50.74). In the 200, Princeton again took second and third behind Corey Okubo (1:47.62) and Maher (1:48.08).

Sali scored a hat trick with his victory in the 200 IM. He clocked a 1:48.51 to come in ahead of teammate Eric May (1:50.44) and Princeton’s Okubo (1:51.21). May won the 100 breast, edging teammate Victor Luo (55.37) and the Tigers’ Byron Sanborn (55.71). Penn’s Bobby Francis came in fourth with 56.16.

Okubo picked up his first collegiate win for the Tigers with a 1:47.89 in the 200 fly. Cornell’s Vincent Declercq out-touched Princeton’s Marco Bove, 1:49.49 to 1:49.69 for second.

Princeton’s Wagner got to the wall first in the 50 free with 20.31. Schultz of Penn (20.45) came in just ahead of Cornell’s Tim Satterthwaite (20.47). Satterthwaite got his revenge in the 100 free, though; his 44.97 beat out Schultz (45.22) and D’Alessandro (45.36).

Cornell’s Luo went 1:59.87 to earn the 200 breast crown. Penn’s Cole Hurwitz (2:03.03) took second, just .01 ahead of Princeton’s Sanborn.

Jack Brenneman gave Cornell a victory in the 100 fly with his 49.12 finish; Wen was 49.49 for second. Declercq won another touch, this time beating out Princeton’s Ben Shafer 49.76 to 49.84 for third.

Princeton’s Michael Manhard won both diving events, taking the 1-meter title with 304.25 points and the 3-meter with 308.40. The Tigers’ Liam Fitzgerald was second in 1-meter and third behind teammate Nathan Makarewicz in 3-meter. Cornell’s Matt McCoy and Tommy Hallowell were the Big Red’s best performers and Jack Stein represented the Quakers on the boards.

With Princeton only 7 points ahead of Cornell going into the 400 free relay, they needed a second place to win and a third to tie. The Tigers came up with a first, sealing their double victory and handing Coach Orr his 300th and 301st wins.

Final scores

Princeton University 160 – 140 Cornell University
Princeton University 192 – 107 University of Pennsylvania
Cornell University 181 – University of Pennsylvania 118