Day One Of Swimming Ends During Day Two... And Not Well For Princeton

According to the Ivy League web site, the official ruling has come down on the 200 free relay final from Thursday's opening night of the 2009 Ivy League Women's Swimming & Diving Championships.

Five teams, including Princeton, were disqualified from the race. Five of eight.

From Princeton's perspective, this is what it does. The Tigers won the championship-opening race, which would have scored them 64 team points. Harvard came in third to Princeton and the also-disqualified Columbia, which would have meant 54 team points for the Crimson. Basic math says it's a +10 advantage to Princeton, and based on the final team score through individual events last night, that would have given the Crimson a 6-point lead through five of 21 events.

Instead, Princeton goes from 64 points to 0 points. Harvard jumps to first, which moves its 54 points to 64. That creates a 74-point swing total, which means Harvard's lead (which would have been 6) stood at 80 points through those five events.

A quick search through the last four years showed that five relays total (in a combined 20 events) were disqualified. Each championship meet has a 200, 400 and 800 free relay, as well as a 200 and 400 medley relay. The results of the 400 medley relay were also counted last night, which Princeton won in a team and Ivy League record time of 3:40.99. So at the end of Day One, Harvard held a 72-point advantage over Princeton.

GoPrincetonTigers.com will have a full recap following the second day.