The men’s swimming and diving team suffered from a lack of manpower in last weekend’s dual meet loss to Navy by a score of 152–142.

“Our problem is depth,” coach Frank Keefe said in a statement. “Their third person versus our third person … [Saturday] there was little comparison, and we have to have people step up.”

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Points are awarded to teams based on the respective positions that the swimmers place. More points are awarded for first place than second, second than third, etc. Yale did not have to win more individual races, just have more swimmers finish in the top three — but that did not come easy for the Elis. The Bulldogs only had more than one swimmer place in the top three in two of the 15 events — the 200-yard IM and 400-yard freestyle relay events.

“Competing against a team like Navy really highlights our strengths and weaknesses,” Kyle Veatch ’11 said. “Princeton and Harvard are teams of similar caliber to Navy, so knowing that we can go head-to-head with Navy is great preparation for this weekend.”

The Elis started the meet well, with the team of Mike Dominski ’13, Zak Murez ’12, Alex Benz ’12 and Kyle Veatch ’11 taking first in the 200-yard medley relay.

Matt Lee ’12 was Yale’s top finisher in both the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle races, finishing second and third, in the respective races. Lugar Choi ’11 (200-yard freestyle), Murez (100-yard breaststroke), Scott Shinton ’12 (200-yard butterfly) and Chris Luu ’12 (200-yard breaststroke) each recorded a third-place finish in their events for the Elis. The Bulldogs were victorious in both backstroke events, with Dominski winning the 100 and captain Tom Robinson ’10 the 200. Yale then swept the 200-yard IM with a 1-2-3 finish from Jared Lovett ’13, Choi and Shinton, respectively. Goksu Bicer ’12 dominated in his three individual events, winning the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, and placing second in the 100-yard freestyle.

Now the Elis have their sights set on arguably their biggest meet of the year. The HYP — a tri-meet between the Elis, Harvard and Princeton — is scheduled for Saturday at noon in Princeton, N.J.

“A lot of us will be rested for this meet so I think that everything will fall into place and we will be the ones winning the close races,” Jason Choi ’11 said. “We’ve all put in the work this season, so it’s just a matter of time before we see the reward.”