M. Swimming Torpedoes Navy

After nearly four weeks off, the Harvard men’s swimming team showed little rust against the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., this weekend.

Harvard (3-0, 3-0 EISL), ranked No. 24 in the nation, won the meet easily 195-102 over the Midshipmen (3-4, 2-2).

“It’s been about a month since we had a race, so we were really looking forward to getting back into the water,” Harvard sophomore John Cole said.

The Crimson was victorious based largely on the strength of three swimmers who claimed two victories each. Junior Dan Shevchik, freshman Ryan Smith and Cole all won a pair of events.

Shevchik claimed victory in the 200 backstroke and the 400 individual medley, winning the latter race with a time of 4:26.89.

In the 200 backstroke, Shevchik finished with a time of 2:03.50. Shevchik’s personal-best mark in that event—1:49.41—is one of the top-50 times in the nation so far this year.

Cole took home twin first-place finishes in the 1500 freestyle and the 400 freestyle events. Cole—one of the fastest freestyle swimmers in the country and owner of the nation’s second-best time in the 1650-meter event this year—blew away the rest of the field this weekend.

Smith, like Cole, dominated his events. The Crimson rookie finished the 100 butterfly in 56.01 and the 200 in 2:05.88, both good for first place.

In Harvard’s previous two EISL meets, the Crimson decimated its opponents, winning by more than 100 against both Army and Columbia. That made this weekend’s matchup with Navy Harvard’s closest meet of the year, but according to Shevchik, the outcome was never in doubt.

“Going into the meet, we knew we were going to win,” he said. “We had a business approach to the meet.”

The Crimson can look ahead to more intense competition come the first week of February, when Harvard travels to Yale to face the Elis and the Princeton Tigers Feb. 1-2.

M. Swimming 195, NAVY 102

(event winners, full results not available at press time)

200 Medley Relay: Kemi George, Mike Gentilucci, David Ni, Andrew Krna 1:47.45;

1500 Freestyle: John Cole 15:28.97

1-Meter Diving: Thatcher Carr (N) 321.15

200 Freestyle: Jan Cieslikiewicz 1:53.97

100 Backstroke: Scott Metcalf 58.85

100 Breaststroke: Brian DeMell (N) 1:07.12

200 Butterfly: Ryan Smith 2:05.88

50 Freestyle: Brett Cline (N) 23.80

100 Freestyle: Ryan Parmenter 52.17

200 Backstroke: Dan Shevchik 2:03.50

200 Breaststroke: Michael Gentilucci 2:22.15

400 Freestyle: John Cole 4:02.10

100 Butterfly: Ryan Smith 56.01

400 Individual Medley: Dan Shevchik 4:26.89

200 Freestyle Relay: Navy 1:34.85

3-Meter Diving: Thatcher Carr (N) 317.40

(All events in short-course meters.)