Dual Win Keeps Harvard Men’s Swimming Unbeaten

After the second event of the meet, there never seemed to be a question that the men’s swimming and diving team would cruise to victory against Columbia.

Although Harvard (3-0, 3-0 Ivy) was behind by five points going into the second event, the Crimson dominated the rest of the meet. Once Harvard gained the lead, the squad never lost it. The team sealed the decisive victory, 196-102, on Friday at Blodgett Pool.

“We performed very well as a team,” co-captain Douwe Yntema said. “All of our swimmers were very competitive and finished their races in strong form. We expected it to be a lot closer than it was, but in any close race, it seemed the Harvard swimmers would end up winning.”

In the second event of the meet, the Crimson took three of the top four spots in the 1,650-yard freestyle to lead the Lions by six points. Freshman Wes Stearns got off to an early lead and finished in first with a time of 15:52.83. The battle for third was much closer. Sophomore Matthew Kaminske closed the gap on the last few laps, but senior Blake Lewkowitz managed to maintain his lead and finished in 16:16.07.

Harvard pulled out even further ahead of Columbia after a string of victories in the next few events. In the 200-yard freestyle, the Crimson nabbed the top three spots, but there was a battle for first that came down to the last lap. Sophomore Greg Roop started out front in the beginning, but freshmen Chris Satterthwaite and Spenser Goodman passed him at the end to take first and second, respectively.

Two events later, sophomore Owen Wurzbacher, freshman Jason Ting, and co-captain Justin Davidson finished 1-2-3 in the 100-yard breaststroke. Wurzbacher earned the Crimson nine points for his victory, putting Harvard far out in front, 64-29.

“To go 1-2-3 in any event is a huge thing, especially in a league as competitive as this one,” Davidson said. “I think it bodes well for the breaststroke events this season.”

In the 200-yard butterfly, Columbia junior Bruno Esquen came flying off of the starting block in first, but this race demonstrated that strategy trumps early leads. Junior Niall Janney appeared to be far behind Esquen, but turned it into a higher gear in the middle of the race to finish two seconds ahead of his competitor. Yntema almost managed to steal second, gaining on Esquen during the last few lengths, but couldn’t quite close the gap before touching the wall.

“It was a close race, and I was hoping to catch him at the end, but I didn’t,” Yntema said. “I was trying my hardest to go 1-2 in that race.”

But it was the middle of the meet that sealed the victory and took away any hope of victory from the Lions. Harvard grabbed the top three spots in the 200-yard backstroke and then took four of the five top positions in the 200-yard breaststroke, picking up 33 points in those two events alone.

The top three finishers in the 200-yard backstroke pulled out ahead early and never looked back. Freshman Jack Pretto earned victory in the event, with junior David Lynch and senior Michael Dunn rounding out the top three.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, Wurzbacher grabbed first for the second time in the meet. Ting and Davidson completed the race right behind their teammate. Columbia freshman Eric Traub stole a perfect race from the Crimson on the last lap, finishing in 2:10.34, narrowly beating freshman Danny Crigler’s time of 2:10.41.

Even though most of the points came from the swimming events, the Crimson divers significantly helped out the team. In both the one-meter and three-meter diving events, senior Zac Ranta, sophomore Michael Stanton, and freshman Joe Zarrella took the top three positions after six dives, earning 32 points in both events, while the Lions only managed to gain six points. Stanton won the three-meter event, while Zarrella took the one-meter title.

With this week’s victory and two equally dominant wins over Cornell and Dartmouth last weekend, Harvard has clearly established itself as one of the top dogs in the Ivy League.

—Staff writer Steven T. A. Roach can be reached at sroach@fas.harvard.edu.