Princeton boys, girls win meets at Steinert
HAMILTON >> Through the first four events, the Steinert boys swim team was forcing Princeton to take notice. And during the 10-minute break between the 50 free and 100 fly, an impromptu team meeting proved the Little Tigers were paying attention.
Princeton dominated four of the next five events and pulled away for a 95-75 victory Tuesday, raising its record to 2-1 while the Spartans fell to 2-2.
“It was a little tighter than expected,” coach Carly Misiewicz said. “I knew they had a couple really good guys, I just wasn’t sure depth-wise what they had. So, going into it the guys knew it would be a tough meet. We were missing a couple guys to Holiday Classic tapers.”
Which is something good teams tend to overcome.
“It’s what can we do the day of, with who we have,” Misiewicz said. “You can’t worry about who’s healthy, who’s not healthy and that kind of stuff. Just get in and do your best and beat the person next to you, I always tell them.”
The Little Tigers held a slim, 34-28 lead entering the 100 fly. But Will Murray’s win in the fly paced a 1-2-5 finish and Logan Eastburn’s victory in the 100 free powered a 1-3-4 effort to give Princeton a 56-38 lead. Steinert’s Felipe Bargo, who had three wins, powered a 1-2-4 finish for his team in the 500 free to cut it to 60-50, but the Tigers won the 200 free relay and Owen Tennant won the 100 back to give Princeton an insurmountable 81-59 advantage.
“I talked to them at the break and once that 100 fly went 1-2-5, I think that helped us a lot, it helped us set the tone from that point out,” Misiewicz said. “The 500 tends to be our weakest event and has been the last three or four years. We knew we had to rack up some points leading up to it and coming out of it.”
Which is exactly what the Tigers did.
“We got together, we talked to each other, tried to hype ourselves up and finish strong,” Eastburn said. “I was happy, we did a pretty nice job. I think (the 200 free relay) helped set us apart.”
Eastburn was part of that relay, as the junior had three firsts on the day.
“Logan’s a great swimmer,” Misiewicz said. “He’s a really hard worker. He gets in the pool every day and really tries his hardest. He’s more of a quiet leader. He leads by example and gives 110 percent. He may not be the loudest cheerer on the pool deck but his swimming just speaks for him. We can throw him in breaststroke, he can swim the 200, the 50, the 100. He does a lot of different events.
“I’m seeing Logan as someone who can hopefully be a top 6 finalist (at counties), definitely a top 12 once we come down closer to preparing and getting ready for counties.”
Owen Tennant, Will Murray and Frederick Otte each won twice for Princeton. Oliver Tennant, Josh Kim, John Liang and Eric Lieu were part of relay victories.
“We have a couple strong swimmers, some good relay teams,” Eastburn said. “I think we have a pretty good shot at doing well later in the year.”
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FIRST PLACE FINISHERS 200 medley relay: Princeton (Ol. Tennant, Kim, Liang, Otte) 1:51.38 200 free: Bargo (S) 1:55.05 200 IM: Ow. Tennant (P) 2:12.82 50 free: Eastburn (P) 26.13 100 fly: Murray (P) 59.12 100 free: Eastburn (P) 53.83 500 free: Bargo (S) 5:21.03 200 free relay: Princeton (Eastburn, Liu, Otte, Murray), 1:39.17 100 back: Ow. Tennant (P) 1:02.27 100 breast: Hall (S) 1:05.60 400 free relay: Steinert (Bargo, Ackerson, Calamia, Devine) 3:37.83