Trading blow after blow, the No. 22 Harvard men’s swimming team and its Princeton counterpart appeared to be headed for another photo finish similar to last year’s five-point Tiger victory. But that was before Princeton unleashed a devastating three-punch combination to send the Crimson sprawling to the mat as the last race drew to a close, downed 192-161.

“This meet was different than most in the sense that it wasn’t a situation where we were splitting events,” co-captain Kevin Budris said. “This was a situation where a team was finishing 1-2 or 1-2-3 and the other team would come right back and do that in the next event. We were trading events. If there were more events, there’s no doubt in my mind that the same thing would have happened for another hour.”

“The score doesn’t convey how close it was,” he added. “This meet came down to the last event.”

Both Harvard and the Tigers handily defeated Yale, 245-106 and 272-79, respectively.

With the Crimson (5-1, 4-1 EISL) riding high following victories in the 200-yard backstroke by sophomore David Cromwell and the 100-yard butterfly by junior Ryan Smith, Princeton (6-1, 6-0) countered where it had the greatest advantage—long-distance freestyle.

Though not weak in the event, Harvard has struggled to replace John Cole—who is training for the Olympics—and his consistently dominant performances, which have netted huge meet-deciding points for the Crimson in H-Y-Ps and EISL Championships past. But one day removed from placing just one swimmer in the top-10 in the 1650-yard freestyle, Harvard was completely shut out of the single-digit finishes in the 500-yard race.

“It’s tough to lose someone like John Cole and at the same time it’s tough to have Princeton take six of the top 10 spots,” Budris said. “But at the same time we still have a very talented distance squad. The Princeton distance swimmers were just on fire this weekend.”

With his victory, Princeton’s Juan Valdivieso spearheaded a massive point-grab by the Tigers, who placed six swimmers in the top-10 to regain any momentum lost in the previous two events.

Senior Rassan Grant’s second place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke one event later marked the only non-Princeton slot in the top-five, all but sealing the victory for the Tigers. Princeton’s 0.51-second win in the 400-yard freestyle relay in the final race finished the task.

The Crimson propelled itself into contention with wins in the 400- and 200-yard medley relays to end day and begin day two, respectively. The pair of relay victories were two more than Harvard managed against the Tigers last year in both the H-Y-P and EISL championships combined and the Crimson nearly managed one more, but was bested by 0.01 seconds in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

“I’d say not only this weekend but over the course of this entire year, relays have been a real focus for us,” Budris said. “We were conscious of the fact that last year we never beat Princeton in a relay...It pisses you off to know that Princeton is leading you in relays all the time and that’s a huge difference in this team this year.”

Sophomore Danil Rybalko and senior Enrique Roy dominated the three-meter diving event for a 1-2 finish in the following event to further build the Crimson’s point-base.

“They knew that they could depend on us,” Rybalko said. “When we came within four points [after the three-meter] the guys were definitely psyched up to give their best.”

The two were steady on the boards throughout, dominating the one-meter event one day earlier for another top-two sweep, with Roy the victor on that occasion.

“That was huge,” Budris said. “The divers were beyond important for us all weekend long. To put us back in was enormous. It put everyone on the team back into what was going on. I would say the energy on both sides of the pool was just insane.”

But Princeton frosh Meir Hasbani promptly seized the momentum right back with a 2.82-second victory in the 400-yard individual medley. Hasbani—who also won the 200-yard butterfly and 200-yard IM—was only the first of four straight Tigers to touch the wall with times just slightly faster than three Harvard counterparts in the race, handing several points back to Princeton.

Just moments later, in the 100-yard freestyle—a race in which the top-five were separated by just 0.2 seconds—Justin Chiles and Mike Salerno swept the top-two for the Tigers setting the Crimson back to nearly the same position it had held four races earlier.

Cromwell, who also took first in the 100-yard backstroke, and Smith would answer, but neither would be able to stop Princeton’s final flurry.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.