Second-Day Turnaround Leads to Second Place

The No. 22 Harvard men’s swimming and diving team separated this past weekend, spanning the East Coast in search of Crimson victories. While the swimmers made the long trek to the University of Georgia for the Georgia Invitational, the Harvard divers traveled to Princeton to compete in their Ivy League nemesis’ home Big Al Invitational. The men’s swimming segment returned to Cambridge after its three-day contest with a second-place finish, while the divers left New Jersey with a solid eighth.

GEORGIA INVITATIONAL

The Harvard men’s swim team traveled south this past weekend, capturing a strong second-place finish in the Georgia Invitational. Harvard completed the three-day contest with a total of 688 points, falling only to the dominant home Bulldogs, who led the field with a score of 1407.

The meet, which was held in a champion style and therefore consisted of both preliminary and final trials, proved to be a bit of a wake-up call for the Crimson swimmers. Performing significantly worse than usual in its early rounds, the team’s potential Achilles’ heel was revealed.

“One area we definitely need to improve is swimming faster in the morning,” senior Bill Jones said. “We had a big difference between our morning preliminary swims and then our finals.”

Even with this weakness, the Harvard men managed to return to Cambridge with significant results, both on the team and individual levels. Jones finished fifth in the 200-yard butterfly, touching the wall in 1:46.47 and earning himself an NCAA “B” qualifying time.

Sophomore Jordan Diekema also performed well individually, claiming first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:45.97. The sophomore also swam a solid 49.31 in the 100-yard backstroke for a third-place finish.

“[Diekema’s] strong work ethic in practice showed up in the meet,” Jones said.

The Crimson’s relay teams helped to secure Harvard’s final standing in the meet, allowing the team to overcome Denver, whom it trailed until the final day of competition. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Will Heyburn, Diekema, co-captain David Guernsey, and Jones placed second with a time of 1:22.56.

Diekema, Jones, and Heyburn, along with junior Simone Melillo, captured another second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, posting a time of 1:29.72. Finally, Diekema, Jones, Guernsey, and Melillo picked up third in the 400-yard medley relay (3:16.61).

Co-captain Eric Lynch praised his teammates, who were able to withstand the rigors of the weekend-long competition and consistently produce quality swims.

“It was a long meet,” Lynch said. “Basically, across the board, we weren’t really all that rested, and a lot of people showed they were in incredible shape.”

The Crimson has a month off before it begins its second half of the season, competing on Jan. 3 against Navy. In that meet the Crimson will not be able to rest on its laurels, especially if it wants to continue the standard of utter domination set by the 2007-08 team.

“[The Georgia Invitational] showed us that we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Guernsey said. “We realized it’s time to step it up and what actually needs to be done to achieve that.”

BIG AL OPEN

The Crimson divers returned from Princeton this past weekend, bringing home an eighth-place finish at the Big Al Invitational.

Harvard was led by sophomore Zac Ranta, who captured sixth in the 3-meter dive with a score of 256.6 points. Freshman Taylor Nickel also had a standout performance, securing an eighth-place finish in the 3-meter dive (245 points) and 10th in the 1-meter dive.

“I think we’re doing a lot of great things,” Ranta said. “We’ve just got to keep the energy going and head into the second half of the season with a positive attitude.”

—Staff writer Alexandra J. Mihalek can be reached at ajmihalek@fas.harvard.edu.