Men's Swimming and Diving Starts Quest for Ivy Crown

A little under nine months ago, the Harvard men’s swimming and diving team missed out on an Ancient Eight title, falling to Princeton by just 21.5 points at the Ivy League Championship. This year, the Crimson’s biggest goal is to erase the memory of that loss by recapturing top marks in the conference.

Harvard (2-0, 2-0 Ivy) took a decisive first step towards that objective on Friday with a pair of wins over league rivals Dartmouth (0-2, 0-2) and Cornell (1-1, 1-1) in Hanover, N.H. The Crimson knocked off both opponents by a score of 198-96, breaking six pool records along the way.

“The team really stepped up and made a statement to the rest of the Ivy League,” senior Aly Abdel Khalik said. “After losing Ivies last year by such a narrow margin, we came into this season with a lot of motivation. Some of the times posted today were the fastest I have seen in dual meets in my time at Harvard so far, so that is definitely a good sign for the rest of the season.”

Harvard secured the win in dominant fashion, taking top marks in 13 of 16 events and placing at least two athletes on the podium in all but four events. The victory was highlighted by three consecutive races, the 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke, and 200 breaststroke, in which the Crimson swept the top three spots.

In the 200 back, junior Koya Osada touched the wall first with a commanding lead, almost five seconds in front of senior Jack Manchester and co-captain Mitchell Foster, who finished the race in a dead heat to tie for second.

Harvard would not have to wait long for its next podium sweep. In the next event, two Crimson swimmers broke a four-year-old pool record and a third came close, taking the top three places along the way.

Freshman Daniel Chang led the way with a time of 1:59.97, while co-captain Eric Ronda finished close behind in 2:00.53. Junior Shane McNamara rounded out the podium in third. Both Chang and Ronda’s results topped the former pool-best mark of 2:01.17.

Earlier, freshman Dean Farris broke another pool record and added to the run of strong results by Crimson first-years, capturing a win in the 100 free. Juniors Ed Kim and Steven Tan ended up second and third, respectively, to complete Harvard’s final podium sweep of the day.

The Crimson freshmen would continue to impress throughout the meet. First-year Zach Snyder picked up two wins on his Harvard debut, capturing top marks in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. Farris chipped in a second solo victory in the 100 butterfly and broke yet another pool record in an exhibition heat in the final event of the day, the 400 free relay. Kim, Tan, and senior Max Yakubovich formed the other three legs of the relay team, which was the first group to break the three-minute mark in the event at Karl Michael Pool.

“I think it is safe to say the whole team is super excited to have [the freshmen] on board,” Foster said. “They have brought an electricity to this team that is extremely unique. Their contributions in the pool and on the boards were exactly what this team needed today.”

The Crimson’s upperclassmen contributed to team’s success as well, spearheaded by three wins from Osada. In addition to his victory in the 200 back, the Chapel Hill, N.C. native picked up first-place finishes in the 100 back and the 200 medley relay. Tan, McNamara, and senior Paul O’Hara made up the rest of the winning medley lineup.

Senior Sava Turcanu also collected a win, touching the wall half a second ahead of Cornell junior Vincent Declercq in the 200 butterfly.

Harvard’s divers had a significant and equally dominant part to play in securing the result, as they established momentum early for the Crimson. In the opening event of the meet, the three-meter dive, juniors Bobby Ross and David Pfeifer finished first and second, while freshman Austin Fields ended up fourth in his first competition for Harvard.

Later in the day, the finishing positions would be flipped but the result would be the same in the one-meter event, as Pfeifer took top marks, Fields picked up second place, and Ross came in fourth.

With the first victory of the season under its belt, the Crimson is already looking ahead.

“This result sets us up well for the rest of the season,” Khalik said. “At this point in the season it is easy to get overconfident, so we just need to make sure that we avoid complacency and continue challenging ourselves day in and day out.”

—Staff writer Sam O.M. Christenfeld can be reached at schristenfeld@college.harvard.edu.