BREATHLESS PACE: Princeton High boys’ swimmer David Xu takes a breath during the breaststroke leg as he placed first in the 200 individual medley to help the Tigers produce a dramatic rally in edging WW/P-South 86-84 on December 19 in their last action before the holiday break. PHS, now 6-0, starts the 2025 portion of its schedule by hosting WW/P-North on January 9. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

David Xu was primed to give his all for the Princeton High boys’ swimming team as it looked to rally past WW/P-South in a battle of unbeaten squads in the final meet of 2024.

The Tigers found themselves behind the Pirates 82-74 heading into the 400-yard freestyle relay, the final event of the December 19 clash between the rivals.

Senior star Xu moved to the B relay from the A quartet in an effort to hope PHS gets the one-two finish it needed to pull out the meet.

“I just came in saying, ‘You know what, I will just put everything into the pool, leave nothing to regret,’” said Xu. “That is really all I could ask for. Seeing everybody cheering and everybody standing up also motivated me.”

As Xu powered to the wall in the anchor leg closing in on second place just behind the Tiger A relay, the WW/P-S bubble was in an uproar as swimmers from both teams were shouting encouragement and PHS coach Carly Fackler was stalking down the deck beside his lane waving her arms and yelling.

Xu touched the wall in second as PHS pulled out the 86-84 win, moving to 6-0 and avoiding its first dual meet loss since falling 106-64 to WW/P-North on December 3, 2019. The Tiger boys screamed, jumping up and down together on the deck when the win was confirmed.

“It just means that we get to keep our streak going in the regular season,” said Xu. “We are going to try to replicate the success in the postseason.”

In reflecting on the dramatic comeback, Xu acknowledged that the Pirates pushed the Tigers to the brink.

“That was scary; a lot of the guys on that team are on our club team,” said Xu, who swims club for the Princeton Tigers Aquatics. “We know they are pretty fast, they surprised us for sure. I didn’t think it was going to be this close in all honesty. There was definitely some drama.”

Xu swam fast in his individual events, taking first in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke.

“I was surprised with how I swam because I was coming to this meet a little tired just in general because it was a school day,” said Xu. “I came into this meet looking for a fight and they definitely gave us the fight.”

Fighting together with his fellow senior teammates which include his twin brother, Jaiden, Daniel Guo, David Brophy, Matias Da Costa, Mark Lackner, and Jaden Jung has helped Xu swim his best.

“The senior group is really close, we have been together for four years,” said Xu, who will be attending Bowdoin this fall and competing for its men’s swimming team. “Seeing people like my brother, Jaiden, and David Brophy growing as swimmers has been really amazing. The reason why we can go so fast is because we are able to push each other during practice and things like that.”

PHS head coach Fackler realized that her squad had to swim fast to overcome the Pirates.

“They are a very good team and we knew that coming in,” said Fackler. “We were strong, they were strong. We knew that it was going to come down to the last relay.”

Before the last relay, PHS came through with a one-two-three sweep in the 500 free, led by Jaiden Xu, and a one-two-four finish in the 100 back to put itself in position for the win.

“The 500 free was huge,” said Fackler. “The backstroke was huge too. Little things here or there didn’t go the way we wanted them to but other things that we were not expecting went in our direction.”

Making the tactical decision to split up the A relay to move the Xu twins to the B group proved to be huge.

“It was David’s and his brother’s idea to come up to me and say I think we should split the last relay because I had originally stacked our A relay,” said Fackler. “As we are looking and moving things around, the breaststroke is happening and you have a limited time to make these changes.”

In Fackler’s view, her squad’s pluck helped it come through.

“Heart, that is what it really comes down to,” said Fackler. “We didn’t win the medley relay, that was something we were hoping to get from the beginning. Starting out the first event being down 4-10 could potentially be a blow to the meet. They hung in there and they kept it close the entire time. They knew what they had to do from start to finish.”

Fackler was confident that David Xu would get it done when it counted.

“David Xu is somebody who loves to swim fast,” said Fackler.

“He loves to see where his times are at but he is also like I am going to do this for the team.”

Another senior star, Brophy, looked very fast against WW/P-S, winning both the 200 free and 100 butterfly.

“His free is so clean, so crisp, so smooth,” said Fackler of Brophy, a Colgate commit. “He is dialed in. It looks effortless when he swims. He sits so high on the water. He has just perfected everything that he needs to perfect and it shows.”

In assessing her team’s prefect 6-0 start, Fackler likes where the Tigers are at heading into 2025.

“Ending December on this note is great, everything we have done so far has been building to this point,” said Fackler, whose team is next in action when its hosts WW/P-North on January 9.

“It is just to see where we are right now mid-season and what other work do we need to do gearing up for the rest of the season. I like where we are at. I am excited to put this result in and see where we landed on power points and how we rank in the rest of the section. It is always about that bigger picture. Winning the dual meet is great but how does that set us up for postseason. It is going to be tough, that is what you want. You want the competitiveness.”

Xu is excited to see what PHS can do when it returns to action in the new year.

“By then we are going to be a little bit tapered, we are going to be more into the season,” said Xu. “Our team is going to practice a little bit more aerobic so we are able to be a little less tired during races. I think great things are going to happen in the postseason for sure.”