M. Swimming Dominates H-Y-P Meet

The Harvard men's swimming team is on a roll, and the Crimson put butter on that roll with wins over traditional rivals Yale and Princeton over the weekend.

In the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet at Blodgett Pool on Friday and Saturday, the Crimson (6-0, 4-0 Ivy) handed the Bulldogs their heads on plates with a 215.5-137.5 win.

"We were ahead of Yale the whole meet," said captain Brian Cadman.

Princeton, though, was more of a challenge as Harvard pulled out a 192.5-160.5 victory in the second day.

"We were down 17 points after the first day to Princeton," Cadman said. "After being down after the first day, it was really exciting to come back and win."

The Crimson struggled on the first day, winning three events. Harvard took the 200-freestyle relay with a time of 1:20.2.

Senior Tim Martin, who is also a Crimson editor, easily won the mile race with a time of 15:14.37, nearly 10 seconds ahead of his closest competitor.

Junior Michael Im won the 100-backstroke in 50.33, narrowly edging Princeton's Andrew Chadeayne.

"The first day was just tougher," Cadman said. "We didn't swim as well as we wanted to."

Determined not to let the meet slip away, the Crimson came out ready to race on Saturday.

Led by a strong sprinting corps and a resurgent diving platoon, the Crimson made sure to send a message to the visitors.

"I think the big thing was that we went one through five in the hundred free," Cadman said. "In the diving, we went one and three. Princeton has some of the best divers in the conference."

Indeed, the Crimson dominated the 100-freestyle race. Junior Jamey Waters led the pack with a 44.91 win, but was trailed closely by teammates Ben Rosen at 45.27, Brian Swinteck at 45.50, Matt Fritsch at 45.62, and Dan Barnes at 45.83. Princeton's Jamie Holder could not crack into the Top Five with his time of 45.89.

For the first time in as long as he could remember, Cadman said Harvard won a diving event against the strong Tiger team.

Freshman Erik Patton won the 3-meter diving event with a 261.80 score, 10 points better than Princeton's Rich Birrer. Harvard sophomore Erik Frost grabbed the bronze with a 240.00.

Harvard's 200-meter medley relay won with a time of 1:31.03. The Crimson grabbed the top two spots in the 400-meter freestyle relay with times of 2:59.25 and 3:01.35.

In the 100-meter backstroke, freshman Dan Shevchik won in 1:47.24.

The Crimson was buoyed by a strong crowd in attendance at the pool.

"The crowd was great," Cadman said. "I think it was the best crowd we've ever had here. It was the most exciting meet I've had since I've been here."

The Harvard band even made an appearance on Friday on its way over to Bright Hockey Center for the night's men's hockey contest against Cornell.

"The band was awesome," Cadman said. "I think they were there for 10 or 15 minutes before they were kicked out."

With a big meet out of the way, the Crimson will have a softer schedule in the next couple of weeks before gearing back up for the conference meet at the end of the month.

"We have Cornell and Dartmouth next weekend and Penn the following weekend," Cadman said. "We're going to look at those meets as a chance to do some tune-up races."