Despite solid performances from the Yale men’s swim team this weekend, host Princeton defeated both Harvard and the Elis in this year’s HYP. The Bulldogs recorded their first losses in the Ivy, losing to Princeton 272-79 and falling to Harvard 245-106.

Captain Alex Nash ’04 took third place in the 100-yard backstroke and came in fourth in the 200-yard backstroke. Despite an improved time of 50.21 from the previous weekend’s race against Penn and Dartmouth, Nash was unable to match Crimson’s star sophomore David Cromwell and junior Scott Metcalf on the day, as they took first and second places in both events.

Senior Jack Cooney ’04 started well in the 200-yard individual medley event but was unable to hold on to his lead. Coming off a very quick butterfly start, Cooney was neck-and-neck with Princeton’s rookie Meir Hasbani and was leading the race at the halfway mark. But Hasbani caught up during the breaststroke leg and eventually went on to win the race with a time of 1:50.90. Cooney finished fourth in 1:52.62.

Jimmy Veazey ’04 swam a personal best 1:49.12 in the 200-yard butterfly, good for a new entry in Yale’s record books. But Veazey’s personal best was not good enough on the day and only managed a fourth-place finish. The winner of that event was again Princeton’s Hasbani. In his first ever HYP event, Hasbani had three individual wins for the Tigers, winning the 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard and 400-yard individual medleys.

“It was a very fast meet,” Geof Zann ’07 said. “There was no doubt about it. The guys have all fought very hard, and that’s the best we can ask for.”

Although the Bulldogs’ own rookies did not record any wins, their performances at their first HYP was still commendable. Andrew Foss ’07 tallied the best results for the Elis’ freshman corps, garnering second-place finishes in the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle. Foss finished the 200-yard freestyle behind Princeton’s Justin Chiles with a time of 1:39.34 and posted a time of 4:30.26 in the 500-yard race, clocking just one second behind Princeton senior Juan Valdivieso.

In the 1650-yard freestyle event, Kent Garber ’07 and John Atkinson ’05 took second and third, respectively, behind Princeton’s Dave Ashley. Garber recorded a time of 15:39.17, while Atkinson finished in 15:48.67.

“[The loss] was not that bad,” Garber said. “A lot of the guys swam some pretty good times, and that’s important.”

But it is not over for the Bulldogs yet. Despite their loss, the Elis will have another shot at Princeton and Harvard in less than a month’s time at the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League Championship, to be held at Princeton.

But first, Yale must regroup and prepare for its next conference tri-meet against Columbia and Brown this coming Saturday in New York City.