Despite qualifying more people for the Eastern Seaboard Championships, the men's swimming and diving team fell to Princeton and Tennessee this weekend in its last double-dual meet of the season.

These meets were the first times this season that Penn State did not win any events. The Lions got six second places and six third places in the 13 events.

"Dual meet wins or losses aren't really that big a deal when you look at just the times and how we want to be swimming going into Easterns," Coach Peter Brown said. "We're right on track."

Penn State (6-5) lost to the Tigers, 63-50, and the Volunteers, 71-42. Tennessee also beat Princeton, 72-41.

"Tennessee is ranked No. 4 in the nation right now and it would have been a small miracle for us to have beaten them," Walter Sopp said. "But the scores don't really indicate how close the meet was with Princeton. We had a good shot but fell a little bit short."

Once again this season, the meet came down to the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Penn State, which had not rested or shaved for the meet, had to win the race in order to beat Princeton.

Ed Adelman, Nick Boyce, Adam Carroll and Sopp swam the event in 3:03.01, their fastest time of the season, but were touched out by Princeton in 3:02.23.

"The relays were scored 7-0, so the score doesn't really indicate that we could have won by winning the last relay," Sopp said. "But we would have by winning it."

Sopp said that although the Lions lost a few close races this season in the 400 freestyle relay, he is not disappointed because most have been against teams who have had swimmers rested and prepared just for that race.

"We're looking forward to Easterns in a real big way," he said.

Freshman James Sloat finished second to Princeton's Leif Engstrom-Heg with a time of 2:01.99 in the 200 breaststroke and came within a half second of qualifying for NCAAs. His time shattered senior Steve Wukitch's freshman record of 2:03.18 set in 1987. Drew Van Winkle, another senior, holds Penn State's record with a 2:01.77.

Brown said Sloat and a few other swimmers should qualify for the NCAA meet at Easterns.

"It's nice to make the cuts sooner but that rarely ever happens," he said. "There are only a few swimmers in the country who can qualify without shaving."

Sopp placed third in the 50 freestyle in 21.23 and second in the 100 freestyle in 46.26. Adam Carroll finished second in the 200 freestyle in 1:40.16 and third in the 500 freestyle in 4:35.34. Phil Meyer got third in 9:29.69.

Boyce touched in 1:53.31 for third place in the 200 backstroke.

The team of Boyce, Sloat, Thad Davis and Dave Poorbaugh finished third in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:23.26.

Mike Westwood took second on the one-meter and three-meter boards with 465.17 and 493.92, respectively. D.J. Hill placed third on high board with 484.92.

Despite the loss, Penn State will not be intimidated at Easterns by Princeton, which won the meet last year and is the favorite again. Sopp said the Lions will rest and shave for the meet, putting them on the same level as the Tigers. Penn State could be the first non-Ivy League team to win the title.

Sopp said the next three weeks will be important training-wise for the Lions as it gives them the opportunity to work on the finer points of races like starts, finishes and flipturns.