M. Swimming Competes at Texas Invitational

Harvard graduated a strong class last spring, and it showed this weekend.

The men’s swimming and diving team’s performance at the University of Texas Invitational was anything but ordinary for the Crimson swimmers (2-0, 1-0 Ivy), who are accustomed to dominating the rest of the Eastern League and who finished fifth at the meet last year.

The team that looks to win its seventh straight EISL title this spring placed 10th out of eleven teams at the invitational. After trouncing Columbia and Army earlier this month, the team headed to Austin, Texas, with high hopes this weekend.

“We’re using this as an opportunity to set the tone for the season since this is really only our second meet,” co-captain Cory Walker said Thursday. “[We want] to find out exactly where we stand, both individually and as a team, and what we need to focus on in our training.”

“It looks good,” co-captain John Persinger added. “There are numerous top-twenty teams here, and I think there will be pretty of good opportunities for our team to get up and race some good swimmers.”

The three-day meet, however, provided tough competition for the young lineup, even tougher than last year. The Longhorns are currently ranked fourth in the country, and they had invited such teams as No. 8 Arizona, No. 14 Wisconsin and No. 21 SMU; Harvard was ranked No. 22 in the country going into the meet. The Longhorns won the invite with a total of 669 points while the Crimson scored 102.

Friday

Even during the first event, the Crimson’s youth was already a clear factor. The 200 freestyle ‘A’ relay of Nicholas Langan, Brad Burns, Andrew Krna and James Lawler, all freshmen and sophomores, turned in a final time of 1:22.81, just good enough for 14th place.

The 400 medley relay of junior Dan Shevchik, sophomore Rassan Grant, freshman Ryan Smith and Burns also received fourteenth place. Last year’s relay, which placed fifth, featured Michael Im ’01 and Jamey Waters ’01, both of whom had ranked in the Harvard All-Time Top 10 in their events.

One of the few highlights of the meet was Smith’s sixth-place finish in the 100 butterfly. Smith touched at 48.66, a full second faster than his performance at Columbia with Army earlier this month.

The freshman’s swim, one of Harvard’s only performances to make the top six in the finals, is just .43 seconds off the school record (currently held by senior Kyle Egan).

Unfortunately, Smith’s swim was followed by a disappointing 500 freestyle race for John Cole—the sophomore’s prelim race was clocked at 4:26.22, locking him in the consolation heat of the event at finals. Despite a 4:23.07 finish in the evening that would have earned fourth place (behind Klete Keller and Erik Vendt of USC and Michigan’s Andrew Hurd), Cole was stuck with points for ninth place.

Saturday

Saturday’s events were largely dominated by the underclassmen as well. Cameron Moccari, Grant, Smith and Burns returned Saturday to finish 16th in the finals of the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:32.99.

Harvard’s only finalist in the 400-yard individual medley was Shevchik, who placed 19th with a time of 3:57.80, while Grant was the only Harvard finalist in the 100 breaststroke, coming in 21st place. Grant had placed fifth in the event last year.

One of the Crimson’s better relay performances of the meet was the 800 free relay. The team of junior Jan Cieslikiewicz, freshman David Ni, Walker and Cole touched ninth in the event with a final time of 6:43.19.

Sunday

Moccari swam the 200 backstroke with a thirtreenth-place finish, clocking a 1:49.07. The only other final appearance for the Crimson Sunday night was the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Burns, sophomore James Lawler, Langan and Cieslikewicz swam a 3:04.75 en route to fifteenth place.

The Crimson will have time to prepare, since its next meet is Saturday, January 5 at Navy.