BRIEF: Mosca, Manchester Perform for Men's Swimming at NCAA Championships

The men’s swimming and diving team’s season came to an end this weekend as two final competitors participated in the NCAA Championships in Iowa.

Senior diver Mike Mosca and sophomore swimmer Jack Manchester represented the Crimson in the national event. Both competed in two events over the four days of competition. It was Mosca’s third trip to NCAAs, while it was Manchester’s first chance on the national stage.

Mosca competed in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives in the meet, finishing in 38th and 37th places, respectively. He finished with a score of 301.70 in the 1-meter preliminary dives and 334.95 in the 3-meter. He was unable to move on to the finals in either of the events.

Mosca qualified for NCAAs earlier this month when he competed at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships in Buffalo, NY. At the Zone A Championships, Mosca took first in the 3-meter dive and fourth in the 1-meter. This competition came shortly after Mosca swept the boards at the Ivy League Championships

In his first trip to NCAAs, Manchester competed in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke races.

The sophomore had his highest best finish of the weekend in the 200 backstroke, with a time of 1 minute, 41.64 seconds. This was just .2 seconds slower than his qualifying time of 1:41.44 which punched his ticket to NCAAs at the Ivy League Championships in February. With his time, Manchester added his name to the record books for the Ivy League Championship, Ivy League, and pool record in the 200 back.

Despite finishing lower in 38th place in the 100 back, Manchester had a personal best in the event with a time of 47.44 seconds. This was .17 seconds faster than his qualifying time and previous best of 47.61.

While Manchester has two more seasons to compete for the Crimson, Mosca finished his Harvard career Saturday. The Rhodes scholar graduates as one of the most decorated divers in Ivy League history.

—Staff writer Theresa C. Hebert can be reached at thebert@college.harvard.edu.