Athlete of the Week: Tim Wyant `00

What a weekend for Harvard athletes: Swimmers, wrestlers and high jumpers were breaking records and narrowly missing national titles. But one athlete stood out from the crowd because no one--not even he--could have predicted what he would accomplish.

Junior Tim Wyant, co-captain of the Harvard men's squash team, came within one match of winning the NISRA Individual Squash Championship at Penn. After a stellar run through the field of 64 competitors, the No. 9 seed Wyant finally fell to No. 2 seed Peter Yik of Princeton, 3-0, in Sunday's finals.

But Wyant wasn't even supposed to be in the finals. He should have been eliminated in his quarterfinal match versus the tournament's No. 1 seed. Instead, Wyant decided to pull off the year's most stunning upset.

Squaring off against two-time defending individual national champion Marcus Cowie of the national champion Trinity Bantams, Wyant played one of the best matches of his collegiate career. He won the first two games, 15-9 and 15-7, and although Cowie managed to steal the third at 6-15, Wyant would not be denied, taking the fourth game 15-7 to capture the match.

In the semifinals, Wyant rolled over the No. 4 seed Akhil Bell of Trinity in straight games to secure his spot in the national championship match.

Some might say that Wyant came up a little short this weekend, but we at The Crimson think that No. 2 in the nation ain't too shabby, especially for a No. 9 seed that everyone forgot about.

For one phenomenal victory, for defying all expectations and for showing the true nature of a champion, we honor Tim Wyant as Athlete of the Week.