Making a Splash

With Eion Hu's last run for Harvard long over, some might think their chance to view athletic history being made at the College is slim.

But there might be a little record setting in the air--or in the water.

This year's men's swim team has the potential to be the best team in school history. At last year's NCAA Tournament, the team pulled out a 16th place finish, relying heavily on a group of swimmers in their first year of collegiate competition.

This year, the team returns all but a few swimmers, and they've been drowning their opponents.

The story of this year's team has been a stronger contingent of upperclassmen than any other time in recent memory, backed by a powerhouse of younger swimmers.

There are two juniors who competed in the Olympic Trials for the U.S., Rob Anagnoson in the butterfly and Brian Younger in freestyle (Younger placed fourth overall). Another junior, Eric Matuszak, was the overall top swimmer at Easterns.

The promising freshman class of last year's team have become seasoned competitors with so much talent it practically drips off them, and the novices have proven themselves to be worthy of their teammates.

In addition, with the reputation of the swimming program deservedly on the rise, Harvard coach Mike Chasson has managed to attract some transfer students, including a Olympian from Singapore, to add some depth in traditionally weaker strokes.

This year, Chasson is seeing the fruits of years of good recruiting and scads of practice time. He's looking to crack the top 10 at the NCAA's, and with this team, he just might do it.

This team is able to do more than just match last year's Easterns win; they should be able to give teams from all over the country a serious swim for their money. Witha good day in the water for some of the team's better swimmers, a school record or two just might be broken.

Coming off their training trip with a meet against Florida Atlantic University (FAU), one of the top 20 teams in the nation in 1996, the team will have a good opportunity to show their stuff. FAU sent three swimmers to the Olympics last year and is known for a strong freestyle squad. The only meet the Crimson lost last year was to the one team their freestyle swimmers couldn't dominate.

However, FAU has lost Bela Szabados, a freshman freestyler who took the 200 at NCAAs last year. If juniors Matuszak and Mike Kiedel hit the water hard, they will offer some real competition in FAU's strength.

This year's butterfly squad is also a lot deeper, and even the newcomers have collegiate experience.

Although the team is weaker in breaststroke and the shortest backstroke events, the medleys and relays could very well provide the final boost.

But if you're betting (Boston College, listen up), bet on the Crimson. This team has so much-momentum heading into this meet, it's almost indecent.

And if they improve on last year's performance at all, it'll be an undefeated season.

It's almost enough to make you think, Eion Hu?