This Saturday the men’s swimming and diving team defeated Brown 141-102, ending its regular season schedule with a record of 7-4 and 5-4 in the EISL. This was the Red’s second victory over the Bears in the past three seasons. The 7-4 mark is identical to last year’s, yet the team and head coach Joe Lucia believe that they can improve on their sixth place finish at the EISL Championships this year if they swim their best.
Saturday against the Bears, the Red won seven of 13 events, faring very well in the long distance events. Freshman Jared Levan took both the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle events. Classmates Chase Nielsen and Rich Logar rounded out the top placewinners in the 1000-yard event, giving the Red a sweep of the event. Senior diver Tim Lenz and fellow diver, freshman Tony Schultz, dominated the one and three-meter dives. Lenz took the one-meter while Schultz took the three-meter, and each took second in the other event.
The Red also fared well in the sprinting events. A trio of seniors, including Julian King, Charles Ernst, and Jeremy Sample, took second through fourth places, respectively, all finishing within a second of one another. More first-place finishes were recorded by junior Rob Payne in the 200-yard butterfly, freshman standout Stefano Caprara in the 200-yard free, and senior Danny Royce in the 200-yard breaststroke.
The Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League consists of every Ivy League squad, along with Army and Navy. During the season the Red defeated EISL squads Penn, Army, Navy, Dartmouth, and Brown, and lost to Yale, Columbia, Harvard, and defending champion Princeton, which is the perennial powerhouse of the league.
The culmination of the season for Cornell will be March 6-8, when the Red travels to Long Island to face the stiff competition of the EISL.
Archived article by Chris Mascaro