M. Swimming Ups Record to Perfect 9-0

Coming off of two big wins last weekend, the men’s swimming and diving squad finished up undefeated this weekend with three more wins. The Crimson (9-0) defeated Dartmouth 199.5-94.5 and Cornell 186-110 in Hanover on Saturday and then destroyed Pennsylvania 195-73 at home yesterday.

“We are really proud of our season and it was a great way to finish up our season,” said junior Dan Shevchik.

All season the squad was marked by a great ability to work as a team to earn its wins.

“Saturday we came out a little flat coming off the two wins we had last weekend, but the team was able to pull together and get the win,” Shevchik said. “Cornell is a much improved team, but we were able to beat both teams.”

The Crimson won nearly every event on Saturday and only missed placing in the top three in one event.

The team had even better results on Sunday, beating the Quakers by over 100 points. Harvard won every event, with the exception of the last relay, and by that time the Crimson already knew it had earned the victory.

On both days this weekend, the Crimson did what was needed to earn enough points to remain undefeated.

“We were solid but unspectacular across the board,” Shevchik said.

The team had made a universal decision before the weekend not to shave and instead to save that for the conference meet.

“Today was all about two things: it was our last home meet for our seniors and it was our iron man,” Shevchik added.

The iron man is a yearly ritual for the team. Over the course of the season the upperclassmen work together to evaluate the freshmen, and then they select one freshman to swim in every heat of every event in the last home dual meet of the year. Even during the diving breaks the iron man must keep on swimming. This year the appointment went to Alex Siroky.

“It’s a big honor for the freshman to get,” Shevchik said. “He did a great job.”

The task is grueling, but a huge accomplishment.

“It was painful the whole way through, but as I got going I got used to it,” Siroky said. “I was on a complete adrenaline rush. I felt more engrossed by the entire thing because the whole team was cheering the entire time. I could not have done any of it at all if they had not been there cheering.”

This weekend’s meets were about the team working together as a team. Besides the iron man, the Crimson was focused on the fact that this was its last dual meet for the seniors on the team. Despite the fact that Penn did not have any divers, senior Erik Frost dove anyway.

Harvard wrapped up its dual meets with an annihilation of its opponents this weekend. It looks forward to the EISL Championships which it will host the weekend of Feb. 28. The Crimson is the six-time defending Eastern champion.