Columbia Halts Harvard's Streak

The Harvard men’s swimming and diving team headed to Columbia on Friday night looking to stretch its dual-meet winning streak to 13. The number, however, proved to be unlucky for the Crimson. The Lions won nine of the last 11 races to pull away with a 160.5-139.5 victory over Harvard, which had not lost a dual meet since the 2003-2004 season.

The Columbia meet provided a study in contrasts with the Crimson’s contest against Cornell and Dartmouth the previous weekend. In that meet, Harvard came out slowly to fall behind Cornell, yet regrouped and dominated the second half to score a close victory. Against Columbia, however, the Crimson jumped out to a commanding lead with wins four of the first five events, only to see it slip away in the second half.

“Against Cornell and Dartmouth, we came out flat at the beginning, so this week we wanted to make sure we came out strong,” captain Dave Cromwell said. “We had great momentum at the beginning and a great relay. The bottom line is that they had better momentum than we did, and their best events happened at the end.”

Although the result was disappointing for the Crimson, several underclassmen continued to impress with their poise and strength. For the second straight week, freshman Bill Jones notched a victory in the 100 butterfly; he also was a part of the victorious 200-yard medley team. Sophomore Sam Wollner won the 1,000 free and came in a close second in the 200 butterfly, while freshman Eric Lynch scored second, third, and fifth places.

“Sam had a great meet,” Cromwell said. “He may not have won the 500, but he had a great time, one of the best times of his career. Eric just had several tough races; they were long and one after the other. He’s a tough kid, and we’re definitely looking for him to help us during the rest of the season.”

Cromwell continued to demonstrate why he is one of the elite swimmers in the league, garnering two individual wins in the 100 backstroke (in which he set a pool record) and the 200 backstroke, and leading the 200-yard medley team to victory.

In the increasingly competitive Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL), the Crimson must fight even harder to maintain its dominance. The Lions finished fourth in the league last year, but this season have defeated both Harvard and Yale and boast a strong freshman class.

“I don’t think that we underperformed in this meet,” Wollner said. “Columbia beat Yale last weekend, and they have a great team with great recruits. They have a deep team, and we just came up a little bit short in some races at the end.”

The Crimson looks to rebound from its defeat at the Bulldog Invitational in Athens, Ga., on Dec. 2-4. With a full two weeks to prepare, Harvard hopes to get back on track and make a statement in Georgia, where it will compete against several premier foes.

“The next two weeks will be very telling,” Cromwell said. “People have to get very serious with themselves, particularly over the Thanksgiving break, to decide if we’re going to be great or just okay. We’re looking forward to the Georgia invitational to show that we have been putting in the work and can compete with the best in the country.”

Wollner echoed Cromwell’s thoughts and issued a prediction: “Expect us to bounce back.”

—Staff writer Julie R.S. Fogarty can be reached at fogarty2@fas.harvard.edu.