Junior Dean Holcomb and sophomore Michael Cai made DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, N.J., feel like home this weekend when they earned victories in the 400 IM and 200 breast, respectively, as Cornell finished sixth in the Ivy League Championships.

Holcomb won the 400 IM with a school record time of 3:52.94, nearly two seconds ahead of his own record set at last year’s Ivy Championship. Holcomb’s time was nearly a second faster than runner-up Ryan Kikuchi of Brown. Cai also broke his own school record set last year at the Ivy Championship with a time of 1:57.17 in the 200 breast. Cai remains the only Cornell swimmer to post a sub-2:00 time in the event.

“Dean Holcomb’s win in the 400 IM was one of the most surprising, dramatic and inspiring wins we have had,” said head coach Joe Lucia. “Cai … surprised the crowd with an upset win in the 200 breast on the final night. Those two led the team all weekend and will be put on our Wall of Champions this spring.”

Final lap: While the men’s swimming team may have finished the season in sixth place, it certainly has a lot to look forward to with a strong group of recruits coming in next year. - By: Beth SpergelPrinceton won its second straight championship, while Harvard placed second for the second year in a row. A back-and-forth battle for third went to Columbia, who was able to hold off Penn, while Yale held on for a fifth- place finish. Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth rounded out the final three spots. Even though the Red failed to match its third-place finish from last year, the team still feels like it had a strong meet. In all, every one of the team’s 17 swimmers and three of its divers were able to get on the scoreboard for the Red.

“We had a strong meet overall with some outstanding performances across the board,” said senior co-captain Sasha Dobrolioubov. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough depth to stay close in the points race as the meet progressed, but we managed to hold off Brown and close the meet on a couple of great swims.”

The lack of depth hurt the Red tremendously in this meet. After finishing the dual meet season with a record of 7-2, including victories over every Ivy League team with the exception of Princeton and Harvard, there was hope that Cornell could repeat its third -place performance from a year ago. Unfortunately a change in the scoring system at the championship meet greatly exposed the Red’s lack of depth, and ultimately cost the team a chance at finishing closer to the top.

“We felt going into the season our depth was not a strong point and we had some glaring holes in our lineup,” Lucia said. “We fought through that during the dual meet season and we were able to pull off a 7-2 record. The scoring is a totally different animal from dual meets to the championship. Depth is a huge factor in the championship as you can see how the scoring system works.”

However, the Red has a lot to look forward to next year as several sophomores and juniors look to build upon the tremendous strides they have taken this season. With a strong incoming freshman class to boot, Lucia believes Cornell will be a contender next year.

“We lose two key seniors who have made great contributions to the team over the past four years,” Lucia said. “Nick Campbell and Sasha Dobrolioubov will be missed greatly. Losing only two scoring seniors bodes well for next year and we have some talented recruits joining us. I feel that we should be much deeper next year and may be able to challenge for the No. 3 or No. 4 spot at championships.”

Dobrolioubov is proud to leave behind a talented squad with a bright future, noting that there are several juniors and sophomores ready to provide the leadership needed in order to fill his shoes.

“It's been a great four years and I'm very proud to have been a part of this team and its tradition. We have a strong incoming freshman class, and our sophomores and juniors have matured tremendously over the season and will provide good leadership. I'm excited to see what our guys can do next year,” Dobrolioubov said.