Dartmouth, Cornell Are No Contest for M. Swimming

The Harvard men's swimming and diving team (7-1, 5-1 Ivy) traveled to upstate New York Saturday to face the Big Red and Big Green and drowned them both.

Harvard, currently ranked No. 20 in the country, took first place in 13 of 16 events, including both relays and the three-meter diving competition. The team also set two new pool records.

Harvard handed Dartmouth a loss with the largest margin that the Ivy League has seen so far this season, 238-58. The Crimson also embarassed the Cornell squad with a final score of 207.5-85.5.

Even more impressive, Harvard competed without the talents of its senior class. The class of '01 stayed behind in order to gain an extra week of rest without racing as well as to offer the underclassmen a glimpse of how the team will function next year.

"I think it's promising for next year," said freshman Enrique Roy of the abbreviated team. "It just shows that as the seniors leave, we're not going to be handicapped."

The Crimson showed no sign of being at a disadvantage--in addition to the team's event wins, the men swept first through third place in eight events, including a five-event sweep in the second half.

Harvard kicked off the meet with a one-two finish in the 200-yard medley relay as the team of sophomore Cory Walker, freshman Jonathan Lin, sophomore Leif Drake and freshman Kevin Budris won the event in 1:35.18.

Sophomore Andrew McConnell then took the 1650 free, out-touching Cornell junior John Kenny to win in 15:59.50, while Walker, freshman John Cole and James Lawler swept first through third place in the 200 free. Walker's time of 1:40.53 was a new pool record.

Cole, meanwhile, traded his usual distance events for a faster pace this time around--the No.1-ranked 1000 freestyler in the country would also take second in the 100-yard free later in the meet.

"Everyone swam off-events, and we still went one-two in almost every event," Roy said.

In fact, the only race in the first half that did not go to the Crimson was the 100-yard backstroke, where freshman Kemi George's time of 52.37 was good enough for second place.

Lin's second win of the evening came in his best individual event, the 100 breaststroke--the freshman clocked 58.86, half a body length before Cornell freshman John Dyste squeezed in a second-place finish.

Ryan Egan then claimed the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:50.71, also a new pool record. Cole and sophomore Rick Dewey took second and third in the event, respectively.

In the absence of senior sprinters Jamey Waters, Dan Barnes and Adam Shaw, it was up to sophomore Jan Cieslikiewicz to represent the Harvard freestyle sprinters. Cieslikiewicz won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.91 while sophomore Nate Towery finished third in 22.25.

Following Roy's first-place finish on the one-meter board (with a total score of 268.50), the Crimson were primed for an even more impressive second half.

Kyle Egan, sophomore Mike Gentilucci and Lin swept the 200 backstroke.

Shevchik, Cieslikiewicz and Lawler touched first, second and third in the 500 freestyle.

Sophomore Ryan Parmenter, Walker and freshman Brad Burns finished one-two-three in the 100 butterfly.

Sophomore Erik Patton, freshman Tom Crahan and Roy beat all divers from Dartmouth and Cornell to sweep the three-meter diving competition with a final first-place score of 256.15.

Lawler, Dewey and freshman Rassan Grant took first through third place in the 200 IM. Lawler's time of 1:56.83 was over ten seconds faster than the nearest Dartmouth swimmer.

The 200 freestyle relay was no exception--the "A" team of Kyle Egan, Parmenter, Burns and Cole took first with a time of 1:24.90 while Harvard "B" finished second. Harvard "C" would have taken third, but it was swum as exhibition and left unscored.

In theory, the 200 free relay's outcome indicates that the 12th fastest Harvard swimmer, excluding the seniors that stayed behind, was faster than even the best Dartmouth "A" team member.

The Crimson travels to the University of Pennsylvania this weekend for its last dual meet of the season before the Eastern Championship, to be held at Army March 1-3.