Men's Swimming and Diving Beats Yale, Falls to Princeton in HYP Meet

The shades of last year’s Ivy League Championships haunted Harvard men’s swimming and diving team this weekend, as, for the second time in under a year, the Crimson came into a meet at DeNunzio Pool undefeated and left with a loss.

Despite decisively besting Yale (8-3, 4-3 Ivy League), 263-90, Harvard (9-1, 6-1) fell to Princeton (6-0, 6-0), 224.5-126.5, this Friday and Saturday in Princeton, N.J.

Although the Tigers managed to win the annual H-Y-P contest for the first time since 2012, the meet was marked by a number of encouraging performances from Crimson athletes as the team enters the championship portion of its season.

“Throughout the whole season we've been swimming faster at each dual meet than the last, so we're on a perfect trajectory heading into Ivy champs,” senior captain Jacob Luna said. “This was a great way to cap off the regular season because everyone is seeing their hard work paying off even though we're still broken down from tough training.”

Harvard’s strongest showing of the weekend came from its divers, who continued the team’s run of dominance on the boards.

Sophomore David Pfeiffer led the team once again, taking first overall in the three-meter event. Sophomore Bobby Ross was close behind in second, with freshman Luke Martinez’s third-place result rounding out a Crimson 1-2-3 sweep. Pfeiffer won the one-meter event as well, as Ross took third.

However, while Harvard commanded the diving portion of the meet, the swimming events were all about the Tigers, who finished the weekend with first place finishes in 14 of 19 events overall. The Crimson, meanwhile, placed a swimmer in podium position in all but six events, but managed to take top marks in just four.

Harvard nonetheless kicked off the meet with a strong showing in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of sophomore Steven Tan, junior Paul O’Hara, freshman Sebastian Lutz, and Junior Max Yakubovich took second just .03 seconds behind the leader.

The Crimson’s run of promising results continued in the next few events, as sophomore Jack Boyd ended up third in the 200 free and classmate Koya Osada matched Boyd’s mark for a third-place finish in the 100 back.

Harvard would also go on to capture two of the top three spots in the 50 free, with Lutz earning second and Tan touching the wall close behind him to end up in third.

However, Princeton quickly began to find its footing. The Tigers captured 1-2-3 sweeps in four of 10 events on the first day to put the Crimson solidly in second at the halfway point of the meet.

Saturday’s events saw Harvard gain momentum, as the team accrued wins from Boyd in the 500 freestyle and the lineup of Lutz, Yakubovich, O’Hara, and sophomore Ed Kim in the 400 freestyle relay.

Paced by those results, the Crimson earned a top-three finish in every event of the second day but one, including third-place marks for O’Hara, Osada, and sophomore Shane McNamara in the 100 free, 200 back, and 200 breast, respectively.

A second-place finish from O’Hara, Tan, Yakubovich, and Lutz in the 200 medley relay also helped to narrow the gap between Harvard and Princeton in the team scores.

“After not doing as well as we wanted in our relays last year, it was great seeing all our relays do so well,” junior Aly Abdel Khalik said. “We’re all excited to see how they do at Ivies, and this meet set that up perfectly.”

Nonetheless, the Tigers would hold strong to walk away with the overall victory, with Yale firmly in last.

Although Princeton managed to end the Crimson’s three-year streak in the H-Y-P meet, a number of individual results bode well for Harvard as the team returns to training before making another trip to DeNunzio Pool for the Ivy League Championships on February 25.

“We know Princeton is going to be tough to beat, but we believe that with the work we’ve put in this season, we are in a great position to put up a good fight at Ivies and hopefully come out with the win,” Abdel Khalik said.

Staff Writer Sam O.M. Christenfeld can be reached at sam.christenfeld@thecrimson.com