Although the focus may have been on next weekend’s HYP meet, the men’s swimming team entered the tri-meet against the Quakers and the Big Green in Philadelphia with only one thing in mind — domination. They accomplished just that, finishing first in 10 of the 14 events swum to win the meet.

Captain Alex Nash ’04 and Jack Cooney ’04 combined for five top finishes.

Cooney earned three victories for the Bulldogs, completing the 100-yard backstroke in 51.48 and the 100-yard freestyle in 46.67. In the much-anticipated 200-yard individual medley, Cooney squared off against Dartmouth senior Thomas Sanford and the University of Pennsylvania’s star sophomore Pat Maloney. Cooney led the race from the beginning to the end, thanks to an amazing start in the butterfly leg, turning the wall in 23.69 seconds. He extended his lead by almost three seconds after the backstroke leg and eventually won the race over Sanford with a time of 1:53.31.

“It was an exhausting meet,” Cooney said. “The team needed some big swims from me. I hate to lose, and I just do my part to make sure that the team wins.”

Meanwhile, the Quakers and the Big Green failed to challenge Nash, the Bulldogs’ captain, who won two individual races. In the 200-yard backstroke event, Nash and Geof Zann ’07 both finished ahead of Dartmouth’s Chris Mudd, posting times of 1:52.10 and 51.38, respectively. The 100-yard butterfly turned out to be an exciting race, as Nash and Jimmy Veazey ’04 were neck-and-neck until the very last one hundredth of a second. Nash prevailed, recording a time of 51.38. Veazey came in at 51.39.

“At that point in the meet, it was pretty important for us to go one-two in the butterfly,” Nash said. “I guess it worked out as good as possible.”

Veazey had no reason to be disappointed by his results. Earlier in the day, he swam to a first place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, with a time of 1:51.52, besting Penn’s Maloney. Veazey was also a member of Yale’s victorious 400-yard freestyle relay team.

Several underclassmen were equally impressive. Andrew Foss ’07 came in first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:41.37, while Lou Krasenics ’07 posted a time of 9:39.61 to win the 1000-yard freestyle. Quinn Fitzgerald ’05 topped the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:36.75. Veazey, Foss, Fitzgerald and Kieran Locke ’06 also combined to finish first in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:06.73.

“It was really good to see some of the freshmen help us out by scoring some points,” Nash said. “We are [going to need] much more of that if we expect to beat Harvard and Princeton next weekend or at Easterns.”

Despite a tremendous performance, the Bulldogs now have to put the victory behind their backs and focus on the next challenge — Ivy League swimming powerhouses Harvard and Princeton, Jan. 30-31 in New Jersey.