M. Swimming Blows Army, Columbia Out of Water

The men's swimming and diving (2-0, 2-0 Ivy) team began its season with the domination expected from a team with four consecutive Eastern titles. Harvard trampled Army and Columbia in a tri-meet at West Point in an evening meet on Friday, winning 177-66 and 152-91, respectively.

The Lions surprised the Crimson in the first event, winning the 400-yard medley relay. From that point on, Harvard took control of the meet, winning eight of the remaining 12 events, taking first and second or first through third in several.

Senior Tim Martin and sophomore Michael Sabala, the only two Crimson swimmers out of 10 in the event, won the top two spots in the 1000 freestyle. Martin blazed through the water by turning in one of the fastest times in the nation this year.

"People were swimming really well considering this is our first meet of the season," Martin said. "We wanted to make a statement with our swims because everyone in the conference and nation will see the results. We will not be taken lightly this year and we wanted to make sure everyone knows that."

In the next event, the 200-yard freestyle, the talent of the new crop of 12 freshmen became apparent. Ryan Parmenter and Rick Dewey finished first and second, with sophomore Mat Wrenshall chiming in third.

"The freshmen overall swam fast, most turning in best in-season times," Parmenter said. "We were all pretty nervous, but stepped up to the challenge of swimming at the collegiate level."

In addition to these two first-year performances, an aggressive all-freshman medley relay finished third, only two seconds behind Harvard's A relay.

Dan Shevchick, another freshman, trailed Lion ace Arpad Sebe for most of the 200 individual medley, until the last 50 yards, when Shevchick motored past Sebe for the win.

Harvard's dominance continued with first-through-third sweeps of the 200 fly and the 500 free. In the 200 fly, the Lions faced twin trouble with sophomores Kyle and Ryan Egan, who took the first two places respectively, only .3 seconds apart. Junior Will Oren finished third.

Junior Dan Barnes helped Martin and Wrenshall in the 500, another pounding of Army and Columbia swimmers.

"In a couple events, Columbia surprised us with some great swims," junior Mike Im said. "But we always rebounded with even stronger performances."

Im was a standout swimmer himself, showing the team's determination with his in-season best times in both the 100 backstroke on a lead-off swim for the medley relay and the 200 backstroke, which he won in 1:50.96. The Crimson's Shevchick, freshman Corey Walker and junior Dan Bazylewicz proved the tremendous depth of the team by taking second, third, and fourth in the event.

"We were glad to contribute to the team's momentum. The team's performance today gets us excited for some fast swimming at Virginia," Im said.

Both the Harvard men's and women's teams will travel to the Virginia Invitational next weekend for some non-Ivy competition. Some of the Crimson will be shaving and resting for the meet.

"We are going to be feeding off of the confidence from this meet to pick up some best times in Virginia," Martin said.

In the final event, the Crimson regained its relay pride, winning the 400 freestyle relay by nearly two seconds. Things are looking bright again this year for men's swimming and diving.

"It was an excellent way to start the season," said Wrenshall, who anchored the winning relay. "It was a victory that will show our competition in the Ivy League what they will be dealing with this year."