M., W. Swimming Excel at UVA

This weekend the Harvard men's and women's swimming and diving teams dove into the Cavalier Invitational and convincingly outpaced the competition at Virginia.

With a combination of record-setting individual performances and a solid team effort, the men's team came away with a first-place finish over Virginia, and the women's team captured second place, losing to the Cavaliers.

The men's swimming and diving team shocked Virginia this weekend by defeating the Cavaliers in their own pool. Though West Virginia (335 points), Central Connecticut (280 points), and Villanova (250 points) also participated in the meet, the battle royale was between the Crimson and the Cavaliers.

Harvard, ranked 21st in the nation before the meet, defeated No.8 Virginia 1168-1015.

" We are all really psyched to beat a team like Virginia," junior Mike Groves said. "This meet gave us a good chance to prove ourselves on a national level,

and we took it."

At this half-way point in the season, swimmers are usually tired and broken down from training. Though team rested only a few days before the meet, the results were astounding.

"For mid-way, we raced very competitively and showed that we are a

national contender. Many of our men showed they can perform very well

tired, leading us to set lofty goals for the end of the season," captain Brian Cadman said.

Fellow senior Tim Martin, also a Crimson editor, certainly turned heads in the 1650 freestyle, smashing the pool record at 15:02.29, nine full seconds under the previous mark. Martin's time at the 1000-yard mark (9:07.01) broke his own pool record. All-American Austin Ramirez, one of Virginia's biggest stars, initially threatened Martin's lead, but soon Ramirez fell off, unable to keep up with Martin's speedy turnover.

"Tim has put in a lot of great work this year, and breaking records at this point is only the beginning of a spectacular senior season," Cadman said.

In addition to Martin's stellar performance, many team members recorded personal career records at the meet. Among these were Mike Im and Jamey Waters, who were also double event winners. Im won the 100 and 200 backstroke with times of 49.40 and 1:47.31, respectively. Waters took the 100 freestyle in a time of 45.12. Waters teamed with Matt Fritsch, Brian Swinteck and Adam Shaw to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:02.27.

The Harvard men also won the 200 freestyle relay.

"I was glad to be able to go my best times, but the main concern was to

contribute the points for our team. We knew Virginia was going to put up a challenge and as the underdogs our team was able to step up. We have set ourselves up well for our Eastern Championships and NCAAs in

March."

The Crimson's divers weren't about to be left out of the action, either.

Harvard sent three divers to the meet, and all three turned in solid performances. Sophomore Erik Frost, freshman Erik Patton and freshman Adam Grant scored on both the one-meter and three-meter boards, holding up well against non-Ivy competition.

Patton placed second in the three-meter and third in the one-meter events.

Riding the swell of last month's dual-meet victory over defending Ivy

champ Brown, the Harvard women's swimming and diving team continued to surge onto the national scene with a strong showing at the Cavalier Invitational.

With No. 10 Virginia's perennial All-American relays shaved for the

meet, Harvard relied mostly on solid individual performances to remain

close to Virginia in the point race. Harvard tallied 830 points to finish solidly behind UVA, which finished with 1026 points.

Harvard sailed by Villanova, West Virginia and Central Connecticut, which accumulated 565, 479 and 199 points respectively.

Senior Alexis Todor took on a starring role for the Crimson this weekend, finishing second in the 200 breaststroke and third in the 100 breaststroke. In both events, Todor posted season and college career personal best times, which put her within reach of a coveted NCAA berth later in the season.

"Since our team wasn't rested, we didn't expect to swim as well as we

did," Todor said. "It was tough swimming against shaved swimmers, but we just went out there to race. I think we surprised ourselves with some

great performances."

Co-captain Sue Machorek also turned in a strong performance for the Crimson. Machorek was not fooling around this weekend, making appearances in the finals of both the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley.

Veterans such as Todor and Machorek were not the only swimmers with impressive individual performances. The freshman class, which has already proven itself to be an integral part of the team at earlier competitions, produced some of the most exciting swims of the meet.

First-year Jane Humphries illustrated her versatility by qualifying for the finals in three events--the 200 breaststroke, 400 individual medley, and 100 backstroke--racking up dozens of essential points for Harvard.

Fellow freshman Anna Fraser also gave the Crimson something to talk about with a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly, touching in 57.35, only a

tenth of a second slower than her season-best against Brown.

"All the freshmen are excited to be part of this team," Fraser said. "College swimming is great because we're all supporting each other as a team rather than just swimming for ourselves."

While Humphries and Fraser showed their enthusiasm on the blocks, junior Ali Shipley could have made "Ripley's Believe It or Not" with her magic on the diving boards. Shipley led the four Crimson divers, all of whom made the finals on both boards, with a silver on 3-meter and a fourth-place finish in the 1-meter event.

"It was a long weekend, but great preparation for Ivies because of the

prelims-finals format of the meet," Shipley said. "It was exciting to be in front of such a large and boisterous crowd, and the swimmers certainly

added to that with their support."

With the Crimson's divers hot on the boards, the swimmers continued to sizzle in the pool. Sophomore Janna McDougall showed her skills by registering a third-place finish in the 200 backstroke, and junior Liz Baxter placed third in the 200 individual medley and appeared in the finals of the 100 and 200 breaststroke.

Both McDougall and Baxter kept Harvard in the race for the lead by turning out gutsy performances.

"Our performance at the meet was definitely a group effort," senior Nancy Jo said. "A lot of different people stepped up individually to keep us in

the meet. Everyone contributed."

Perhaps the most promising performances of the weekend came from junior Pia Chock, who has been recovering from the removal of a tumor in her abdomen in September. Chock swam in the finals of both the 100 freestyle and 200 individual medley, bringing her back to the level of competition to which she is accustomed.

"I swam a lot faster than I expected," Chock said. "Luckily the surgery went well, as well as the rehabilitation. It was just great to compete again and contribute to the team."

The Crimson will face cross-town rival Boston College today. The Crimson is hoping to build on the success of this weekend's individual performances in today's dual-meet, as it heads into a one-month break from

competition.