M. Swimming Sweeps Columbia, Army

They say you can't get too much of a good thing.

For Harvard men's swimming and diving (2-0), that thing is winning.

The five-time defending Eastern Champions had no trouble shaming both Columbia and Army Friday night in double-dual meet action at Blodgett Pool. Harvard easily routed both teams in its first meet of the season, handing Columbia a 232-68 loss and Army an even more embarrassing 243.5-54.5 defeat.

The Crimson, who sent 12 of their 34 members to the Olympic Trials this past summer, won all 14 swimming events, often sweeping first through third place. The team also took second and third on both the 1- and 3-meter boards.

"I think we're really excited about how well everyone swam," said senior Will Oren. "We had a very deep performance. Everyone on every level improved and put in a good effort."

Harvard's depth was apparent from the outset as the 200 medley relay of senior Michael Im, freshman Jonathan Lin, junior Kyle Egan and senior Jamey Waters won the event in 1:31.72. The team of freshmen Kemi George and Rassan Grant, sophomore Leif Drake and co-captain Matt Fritsch finished second with a time of 1:33.78.

The men then went on to sweep both the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 200 free. In the 1,000, freshman star John Cole touched at 9:04.07, over half a minute before teammates John Persinger, a sophomore who clocked in at 9:34.98, junior Ben Handley at 9:41.54, and junior Michael Sabala 9:42.84.

"It was my best time by five seconds," said Cole, who finished 12th at Olympic Trials this summer in the 1,500-meter freestyle.

"I was pleasantly surprised; I didn't know I was going to go that fast," Cole said. "I never had a high school swim team, and it's been pretty exciting here. We've been working hard and looking forward to it...I don't know if [the meet] could have gone much better."

It really couldn't have. The Crimson also swept the 200 free as sophomore Dan Shevchik clocked a winning time of 1:42.79, with co-captain Mike Groves and Waters placing second and third, respectively.

In fact, the only individual swim event in which the Crimson didn't secure at least both first and second was the 100 backstroke, where freshman Reid Evans from Columbia nudged in at a time of 52.46--good enough for second place but not good enough to catch Im, who finished 50.59.

The class of '04 stepped up again in the breaststroke as Grant and Lin powered to a one-two finish in the 100, touching at 58.14 and 58.44, respectively.

"The freshmen did great," said sophomore Mike Gentilucci. "All the breaststrokers swam really well."

But it was the upperclassmen who would dominate the next two events. Oren won the 200 butterfly in a personal-best unshaved time of 1:49.80, finishing just ahead of juniors Ryan Egan, Kyle Egan and sophomore Cory Walker. Fritsch took the 50 free in a respectable 21.30, just ahead of Drake and seniors Dan Barnes and Chris Park.

Harvard's only losses Friday night were in 1- and 3-meter diving competition, where senior Greg Walker had to settle for second to defending Eastern Champion Mark Fichera, a Columbia senior, in both events. Freshman Ricky Roy helped out, placing third on the 1-meter and fourth on the 3-meter. Sophomore Erik Patton added third-place points to Harvard's score on the 3-meter board as well.

"We wanted to treat Columbia and Army with the utmost respect," Oren said. "We didn't know what to expect, so we went into the meet acting as if we were going to lose so that we would put an all-out effort into every event."

That effort was apparent as Waters and senior Adam Shaw came back after diving to go one-two in the 100 free while Im turned in a 1:49.04 in the 200 backstroke to beat out teammates Shevchik and Walker.

In the 500 free, the men swept first through third again as event-winner Cole achieved an NCAA B qualifying standard with a time of 4:27.57, ten seconds ahead of Oren and freshman James Lawler. Cole is likely to be considered for the NCAA championships in both the mile and 500 free based on his times.

The Crimson rounded out the evening with a one-two-three finish in the 100 butterfly and a one-two finish in the 400 individual medley, in which Shevchik took first in 4:02.41 and was followed close behind by senior Donald Blanchard, who went 4:07.45. Kyle Egan fell just short of setting the school 100 fly record, finishing with a time of 48.91.

The 800 free relay of Oren, Lawler and sophomores Jan Cieslikiewicz and Rick Dewey reaped the 14th first-place finish for Harvard with a time of 6:52.06.

Yet another standout swimmer for the Crimson last weekend was Gentilucci, who overpowered Grant and Army's Dan Downs to finish first in the 200 breaststroke in 2:05.61.

Like Cole, Gentilucci expressed surprise at his performance. "I expected to go fast," Gentilucci said, "but not that fast. After seeing the swims we had Friday night, I'm really excited for what we can do at Texas."

The Crimson head to top-ranked Texas for its next meet, an invitational beginning Dec. 1.