M. Swimming Looks to Capture Sixth Straight Eastern Title

Don't look for the Crimson to repeat its efforts of past years this weekend. After all, Harvard men's swimming and diving has won the Eastern title for the last five years--that gets boring after a while.

So this year, don't just expect a repeat performance of the last half-decade--expect the team to cover some new ground, er, water as well. This year's team (8-1, 6-1 Ivy) is primed to set as many as six school records at the championship at Army this weekend, in addition to the three records already broken during dual-meet competition.

Harvard also expects to qualify multiple swimmers for the NCAA competition to be held at Indianapolis later this month. Seniors Will Oren and Mike Im will be pivotal in moving the team's status up from its current No. 19 ranking.

The Crimson's only competition for the championship title could be the Princeton Tigers, who go into the meet with an undefeated dual-meet record. Princeton swimmers rested early last month in order to beat Harvard 197-156.

Princeton's record, however, does not faze the Harvard men at all.

"Our team has always been about swimming fast and making other schools recognize Harvard is for real," Im said. "This year is no different."

But this year has been different. Harvard's times are faster than any other year. Im's 200 backstroke time of 1:44.43 is currently second-fastest in the country, just five-hundredths of a second away from automatically qualifying for NCAAs. In addition, Im's 100 backstroke time is 13th in NCAA rankings.

Fans should look to Im's training partner sophomore Dan Shevchik to post fast times as well. Shevchik finished eighth in the 200 backstroke at Olympic Trials last summer.

Harvard's butterfly should also be top of the league. The team of Oren and junior Kyle Egan looks to dominate the 200 fly--Oren, who broke the school record at the Texas Invitational in December, is currently ranked eighth in the country in the event; Egan is ranked 20th. Kyle Egan's 100 butterfly time of 48.23, also a new school record, places him thirteenth in national rankings.

Though Princeton's distance group is not to be discounted--junior Kevin Volz ranks 15th in the 1650 free and 18th in the 1000--fans should expect easy wins from distance star John Cole this weekend. The freshman's time of 8:54.92 in the 1000 free at Princeton last month is the fastest in the country, and Cole is currently ranked third in the nation in the mile.

Not to be outdone, freshmen Rassan Grant, Jonathan Lin and sophomore Mike Gentilucci have the breastroke covered. Grant was eight-hundredths away from a school record at the Texas Invite with a time of 55.95. Meanwhile, Gentilucci and Lin dominated both the 100 and 200 breast events all season.

Harvard's divers should also fare well on the boards this weekend. Senior Greg Walker and freshman Tom Crahan head into Easterns following strong performances at Penn two weeks ago; freshman Enrique Roy will add depth to the Crimson roster as well.

In fact, the only possible obstacle in the Crimson's quest for another championship is the absence of its injured swimmers. Senior sprinter Jamey Waters broke a bone in his hand at the Jan. 27 Brown meet, and co-captain Mike Groves has been out of the water due to a back injury. As of Monday, it was unclear as to whether Groves would compete at Easterns. Teammates, however, remain optimistic.

"The injured swimmers look strong right now and should be fully recovered before Easterns," said Gentilucci, whose 100 and 200 breaststroke will be a great asset to the Crimson this weekend. "Even so, we have a deep team and people waiting to fill those spots if an injury should prevent one of our swimmers from competing."

Fans can follow the two-day meet online. Webcam coverage is available at www.armyswimming.com/eisl2001.