By February 13, 2006
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, both the men’s and women’s swimming teams were looking to finish the season on a positive note.
The men (8-2, 6-2 EISL) accomplished their goal and put the finishing touches on their regular season, defeating Brown (2-5, 2-4) by a score of 126-102. With the victory, the Red pushed its winning streak to seven meets.
The Red used its home pool to its advantage, jumping out to an early lead and never looking back. With wins in nine of its last 10 meets, the Red is on a roll heading into the postseason EISL championship, which will be held March 2-4 in Long Island, N.Y..
“We were confident going into that meet, but it definitely gives us some momentum,” said senior co-captain Stefano Caprara. “Obviously, with our win streak, everyone is rolling. We’re looking to be better than ever this year,”
Freshman Rob Manor and sophomore Bobby Nitto highlighted a solid, all-around team performance, as Cornell finished first and second in both the 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyles. The Red also captured first place in the 50, 100 and 200-yard freestyle events. Sophomore Brad Gorter won both the 50 and the 100, while junior Mike Smit, freshman Wes Newman and senior Jared Levan finished 1-2-3 in the 200.
“[The freestylers] are remarkable,” Caprara said. “They have been coming through all year. The last couple of meets, everyone has been stepping it up.”
Smit, whose preferred stroke is freestyle, was dominant throughout the day, as he broke a 14-year old school record in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:49.73.
“He’s a great swimmer, but no one expects it in the butterfly,” Caprara said. “He has been stepping up all year, and he could even do better at EISL.”
The women’s team (3-8, 0-7 Ivy) rolled into Buffalo over the weekend and defeated the Bulls by a 163-135 margin. The win gives the Red momentum heading into the Ivy League championship, held on Feb. 23-26 in Cambridge, Mass.
“The win helps so much. We thought it was going to be very close, so the win really helps our confidence,” said freshmen Sarah Yan.
The meet was close in its early stages, with several lead changes making the match tense. Wins by sophomore Leah Tourtellotte in the 50 free and senior Jessica Brookman in the 200 butterfly kept the Red in the meet. Brookman’s time was a personal best, and came close to breaking a school record.
However, the Red began to pull away, with a victory by Tourtellotte in the 100 free turning the tide. A 1-2-3 finish in the 100 butterfly by Brookman, sophomore Colleen Murphy and senior Ashley Johnson spurred the Red to victory.
Brookman’s 2:06.58 performance in the 200 IM nearly set the Cornell record.
“I was pretty happy with my performance,” Brookman said. “I swam some of my best times. I had a good start, and then when I swam the last three meets in a row, my goal was just to swim as fast as I could and get some points for the team.”
By February 13, 2006
For three straight weeks, Cornell hit the pressure shots when it needed to late in games, building its season-high winning streak to four after Friday night’s 63-59 victory over Brown. The streaked ended at four, however, as the men’s basketball team came up short against Yale, going scoreless in the final four minutes of a 74-65 loss on Saturday night.
The weekend split leaves the Red (10-12, 5-3 Ivy) tied for third with Yale (13-10, 5-3) in the Ivy League, while Brown sits in sixth place with a record of 7-14, 3-5. With three league losses, Cornell’s hopes of an Ivy title are dimming.
“Obviously our backs are up against the wall, and things need to fall our way,” said junior guard Graham Dow. “[We’re] not worried about how the other teams are doing. Right now we’re just worried about how we play.”
Cornell opened its road trip against a young Brown squad that lacked a single senior in the starting lineup.
Dow led the scoring for the Red with 16 points, adding three rebounds, three assists, and three steals on the night. Senior tri-captain Ryan Rourke dropped in 11 points, while freshman guard Adam Gore added 10 tallies.
Brown’s big men, forward Keenan Jeppesen and center Mark MacDonald led the scoring for the Bears with 21 and 18 points, respectively. Damon Huffman also chipped in 10 points.
Cornell built up a 14-point lead early in the first half, only to see Brown battle back with a 17-2 run, taking the lead with 50 seconds left before the break. Junior Ugo Ihekweazu put the Red back on top with a inside jumper, 32-31, at the half.
Although Brown scored first in the second half to move a point ahead of the Red, Cornell quickly built itself a nine-point lead thanks to back-to-back lay-ups by Dow, and treys from Rourke and Gore. Senior tri-captain Lenny Collins’ only two points of the game at the 8:23 mark gave Cornell an 17-point lead – its biggest of the game.
With the Red leading 59-42 after Collins’ basket, the Bears proceeded to hold Cornell scoreless for most of the remaining eight minutes. Scoring 14 unanswered points, Brown pulled within three with under a minute to play.
With 27 tics left on the scoreboard, Gore converted a fast break into a quick two points to put the Red ahead by five, 61-56. After an Jeppesen 3-pointer cut Cornell’s lead to two, Gore sank a pair of clutch free throws to seal the 63-59 victory.
“Give credit to Brown. They came back into the game,” said Cornell head coach Steve Donahue. “I thought they played hard the whole game. They have good players, and I think we were fortunate to hang on in that one.”
Cornell shot 47.2 percent from the field while holding Brown to 39.3 percent and 5-of-21 from 3-point range. Brown outrebounded Cornell, 40-29, but gave up 17 turnovers to Cornell’s 10.
After a draining contest against Brown, Cornell returned to the court just a day later to do battle against Yale.
Junior forward Jason Hartford had a career-high 21 points and Gore scored all of his 18 points from behind the arc in the Red’s 74-65 loss to the Bulldogs. Collins had 11 points in the affair, while junior Andrew Naeve recorded his third career double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
Eric Flato led the Bulldogs with 17 points, including seven points in the last four minutes of the game. Big man Dominick Martin recorded a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 boards. Ross Morin also had 15 points for Yale.
Naeve got the Red on the board with a pair of short jumpers in the opening minutes of the first half, and Hartford scored the first of 21 points with a trey at the 15:18 mark.
Consecutive treys from Gore put Cornell up, 20-14, with eight minutes to play in the first half, but a 15-2 run by Yale put the Bulldogs back ahead, 25-22, two minutes later.
The two squads traded buckets before Hartford closed out the first half with six consecutive points to give Cornell a 36-31 edge at the half.
Hartford scored another quick five out of the break, but Yale kept pace with the Red, taking its first lead, 59-58, of the second half with 7:12 left to play.
With the lead changing hands nearly every other possession, Gore kept Cornell in the match with some clutch 3-point shooting, hitting his sixth trey of the game with 4:21 to play, and giving Cornell its last lead of the game, 65-63.
Yale’s Flato responded on the next play with a 3 of his own from the left corner and went 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch to seal the game for the Bulldogs.
“I just thought they had more left in the tank and were able to execute down the stretch,” Donahue said. “I thought our guys played a very good basketball game.