Strong team diving and a relay team which qualified for the NCAA Championships led the men's swimming team in the final day of competition as it scored 517.5 points and finished second behind Princeton (528) at the 50th annual Eastern Seaboard Championships.

Penn State trailed throughout the three-day competition, but Saturday's strong effort allowed the team to narrow Princeton's margin to just 10.5 points. The Tigers held a 180-146 lead after the first day and were up, 390-310, after two days.

"The guys showed a lot of heart by coming back from so far back," Coach Peter Brown said. "This was just a great finish for the team. I'm very pleased with the way the meet went."

Jeff Eagles led the divers with his 484.30 in the three-meter event. Although he finished behind Pittsburgh's John Sharkey (518.85), Princeton's Ken Iams (498.50) and Colgate's Tim Burke (497.75), the Lions had two other divers place in the top eight.

D.J. Hill (467,20) finished fifth and Mike Westwood was eighth (428.90).

"We knew all season long that we were capable of diving well; it was just a matter of everyone doing it at the same time," Eagles said. "I guess as a team we were underdogs to Princeton, but the divers were confident we would do well."

Prior to Easterns, Brown decided to take 16 swimmers and four divers -- rather than the traditional 17 and two -- because of the diving team's depth. His move paid off.

"Our depth really helped us; only one or two Princeton people made it to the finals," Eagles explained. "We really didn't do anything different, at least I didn't.

"I concentrated on the same dives I had done throughout the the year, and I think everyone else did too. The big thing was that we all hit everything just right. I got good height on my dives and the key for everyone was clean entries."

Junior Walter Sopp led the 400 relay team by finishing his leg in 43.90. Senior Drew Van Winkle, sophomore Nick Boyce and freshman Adam Carroll rounded out the team, which finished in 2:59.20, qualified for NCAAs and set a Crandall Pool record.

Earlier in the championships, Boyce was a member of a 400 medley relay team which set a school record (3:19.33) and qualified for NCAAs as well. Sopp, James Sloat and Thad Davis were members of that team. The NCAA qualifying standard for the event is 3::19.62.

Boyce's split of 50.32 in the event's backstroke portion also qualified him for individual competition in the NCAAs.

"That was a big event for us," Brown said.