M. Swimming Rolls to Fourth Straight Title

They scored 1609.5 points, captured 11 out of 21 first-place finishes, and claimed their fourth Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving title in a row. They swam in three days of grueling competition for six hours a day. And somehow they made it look easy.

No one has won the EISL Championships as many times as the Harvard men's swimming and diving team. Even though ten teams compete in this meet--the eight Ivy League schools plus Army and Navy--Harvard and Princeton have tossed the title back and forth for the last 16 years.

But at some point Harvard got tired of playing catch. It now boasts seven of the last eight championship titles and this weekend's victory makes it four in a row.

"Overall it was the best Easterns I've been a part of," said co-captain Greg Wriede. "Coming together as a team, it was by far the best performance we've had."

Beating out second-place Princeton--which finished with 1200.50--by more than 400 points, the Crimson set a new record for the all-time highest team score with 1609.5 points. That broke Harvard's 1994 mark of 867.5.

Even under the meet's old scoring system--which counted the top 16 places instead of the current 24--the Crimson would still have broken that record by 98.5.

The Crimson only trailed at one point during the meet, and that was after the first race, which Navy won.

"This is the first time we've really completely set ourselves apart from the rest of the teams," said junior Tim Martin. "Always in the past people recognized it was battle between Princeton and ourselves for first, but this year we were really far ahead and three teams were battling it out for second."

Wriede stepped up this year to win the 200-yard individual medley and the 400-yardindividual medley, after taking second place inboth events last year. In the 400 IM, he touchedat 3:49.80, almost five full seconds ahead ofsecond-place teammate sophomore Will Oren.

In the 200-yard backstroke Wriede battled itout with rival Chuck Barnes of Princeton, beatinghim in the preliminaries on Saturday morning buteventually taking second in the finals. Despitefinishing behind Barnes, Wriede's time of 1:46.60in the preliminary heat was a personal best andwith the current rankings, all of his efforts lookstrong enough to guarantee him a spot in the NCAAChampionships March 12th.

Notching yet another prestigious achievement atthe meet, Wriede outperformed Barnes by a singlepoint to earn the Harold Ulan Award for careerscoring champion, which recognizes the senior withthe most cumulative points over four years.

Along with Barnes and Wriede, Martin was arecipient of the meet's Phil Moriarty Award, whichhonors the meet's top point scorer. Since itsinception in 1976, 10 Harvard swimmers havereceived this award, and Martin--who also won itin 1998--is the only swimmer ever to bag it twice.

Martin swam away from the field, taking firstin both the 1650-yard freestyle and the 1000-yardfreestyle, as well as second place behind Oren inthe 500-yard freestyle.

Unlike many of his competitors, Martin did nothave the advantage of tapering or shaving andawaits NCAAs to fully peak.

"I was really excited about the performancesbecause in all three events the team swam reallywell and I was part of a sweep," said Martin.

The fellow sweepers make up Harvard'sindomitable distance squad. Along with Martin andOren, senior Denis Sirringhaus, junior BrianCadman and freshman Matt Wrenshall racked up ahuge amount of points for the Crimson.

Brandishing a rare one-through-five sweep inthe 500 free Thursday night, these men continuedtheir domination in Martin's wake, taking three ofthe top eight spots in the 1000-yard freestyleFriday night and sweeping first through third inthe 1650-yard freestyle on Saturday night.

Obviously, without the incredible performancesof its seniors, the Crimson couldn't have executedsuch a spectacular triumph. Having never lost anEISL title in their four years at Harvard, seniorsAlex Kurmakov, Jon Samuel, Sirringhaus, Wriede andJames Zenyuh carried the team to its finalvictory.

Kurmakov, the second-fastest freestyle sprinterin Harvard history, scored in seven events,including first places in three of Harvard'srelays and an impressive tie for first place inthe 100-yard freestyle, where he posted a time of44.79.

"It's definitely going to be tough without themnext year. The team will miss them a lot," saidsophomore Jamey Waters. "But we are confident thatwe can continue to dominate with the strength ofour underclassmen."

Waters is just one of a number of underclassmenwho has proved he has what it takes to fill thevoid these unbelievable seniors will leave.Swimming on three of the Crimson's four championrelay squads, Waters also scored in threeindividual finals.

Another underclassman, freshman MatthewWrenshall, who swam every race at the Navy meetJan. 9, proved once again why he is known as theIron Man. He mounted the awards platform a totalof six times and secured four first place finishesin his first Easterns appearance.

"I was very happy with how I swam, and Idefinitely exceeded my own expectations for themeet," Wrenshall said. "Everyone swam well andthat really helped."

The only Harvard diver to score in the topeight, sophomore Greg Walker claimed third placefor Harvard in the three-meter diving Saturdaynight and sixth place in the one-meter platformdiving on Thursday.

While the swimmers were hoarding the hardware,the Crimson's coaching staff got in on the actionas well. Harvard Coach Keith Miller tied forDiving Coach of the Year, and first-year Harvardcoach Tim Murphy was named Swimming Coach of theYear.

"I think [Murphy] did an awesome job getting usready for the meet and getting us ready throughoutthe year," Wriede said. "He is going to keep theHarvard tradition going as far as winning Easternsand he may be the coach to break Harvard into theTop 10 teams of the country at NCAAs."

In the last event the crowd was on its feet asthe 400-yard freestyle relay teams took theirmarks. With an unbelievable Harvard leadestablished on the scoreboard, the meet winner hadalready been decided. But the Crimson refused tocoast. Carried by the chants of the crowd and itsteammates, the Crimson dominated from the outsetand left the rest of the competition flailingbehind.

Princeton, despite its catchy team t-shirts,was a distant second. The Tigers came into themeet sporting shirts that read "A lion amongstladies is a very fearful thing indeed." But in theend, it was the Crimson that had the last roar

In the 200-yard backstroke Wriede battled itout with rival Chuck Barnes of Princeton, beatinghim in the preliminaries on Saturday morning buteventually taking second in the finals. Despitefinishing behind Barnes, Wriede's time of 1:46.60in the preliminary heat was a personal best andwith the current rankings, all of his efforts lookstrong enough to guarantee him a spot in the NCAAChampionships March 12th.

Notching yet another prestigious achievement atthe meet, Wriede outperformed Barnes by a singlepoint to earn the Harold Ulan Award for careerscoring champion, which recognizes the senior withthe most cumulative points over four years.

Along with Barnes and Wriede, Martin was arecipient of the meet's Phil Moriarty Award, whichhonors the meet's top point scorer. Since itsinception in 1976, 10 Harvard swimmers havereceived this award, and Martin--who also won itin 1998--is the only swimmer ever to bag it twice.

Martin swam away from the field, taking firstin both the 1650-yard freestyle and the 1000-yardfreestyle, as well as second place behind Oren inthe 500-yard freestyle.

Unlike many of his competitors, Martin did nothave the advantage of tapering or shaving andawaits NCAAs to fully peak.

"I was really excited about the performancesbecause in all three events the team swam reallywell and I was part of a sweep," said Martin.

The fellow sweepers make up Harvard'sindomitable distance squad. Along with Martin andOren, senior Denis Sirringhaus, junior BrianCadman and freshman Matt Wrenshall racked up ahuge amount of points for the Crimson.

Brandishing a rare one-through-five sweep inthe 500 free Thursday night, these men continuedtheir domination in Martin's wake, taking three ofthe top eight spots in the 1000-yard freestyleFriday night and sweeping first through third inthe 1650-yard freestyle on Saturday night.

Obviously, without the incredible performancesof its seniors, the Crimson couldn't have executedsuch a spectacular triumph. Having never lost anEISL title in their four years at Harvard, seniorsAlex Kurmakov, Jon Samuel, Sirringhaus, Wriede andJames Zenyuh carried the team to its finalvictory.

Kurmakov, the second-fastest freestyle sprinterin Harvard history, scored in seven events,including first places in three of Harvard'srelays and an impressive tie for first place inthe 100-yard freestyle, where he posted a time of44.79.

"It's definitely going to be tough without themnext year. The team will miss them a lot," saidsophomore Jamey Waters. "But we are confident thatwe can continue to dominate with the strength ofour underclassmen."

Waters is just one of a number of underclassmenwho has proved he has what it takes to fill thevoid these unbelievable seniors will leave.Swimming on three of the Crimson's four championrelay squads, Waters also scored in threeindividual finals.

Another underclassman, freshman MatthewWrenshall, who swam every race at the Navy meetJan. 9, proved once again why he is known as theIron Man. He mounted the awards platform a totalof six times and secured four first place finishesin his first Easterns appearance.

"I was very happy with how I swam, and Idefinitely exceeded my own expectations for themeet," Wrenshall said. "Everyone swam well andthat really helped."

The only Harvard diver to score in the topeight, sophomore Greg Walker claimed third placefor Harvard in the three-meter diving Saturdaynight and sixth place in the one-meter platformdiving on Thursday.

While the swimmers were hoarding the hardware,the Crimson's coaching staff got in on the actionas well. Harvard Coach Keith Miller tied forDiving Coach of the Year, and first-year Harvardcoach Tim Murphy was named Swimming Coach of theYear.

"I think [Murphy] did an awesome job getting usready for the meet and getting us ready throughoutthe year," Wriede said. "He is going to keep theHarvard tradition going as far as winning Easternsand he may be the coach to break Harvard into theTop 10 teams of the country at NCAAs."

In the last event the crowd was on its feet asthe 400-yard freestyle relay teams took theirmarks. With an unbelievable Harvard leadestablished on the scoreboard, the meet winner hadalready been decided. But the Crimson refused tocoast. Carried by the chants of the crowd and itsteammates, the Crimson dominated from the outsetand left the rest of the competition flailingbehind.

Princeton, despite its catchy team t-shirts,was a distant second. The Tigers came into themeet sporting shirts that read "A lion amongstladies is a very fearful thing indeed." But in theend, it was the Crimson that had the last roar