Tigers Edge M. Swimming To Take EISL Crown

The unquestioned dominance of the men’s swimming and diving team came to an end this year.

Defending Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL) champions—and winners of seven of the last eight championships—the Crimson found themselves playing second fiddle to Princeton this year.

It was the second time in the past three years that the Tigers stole the championship from Harvard, arguably ending a dynasty that had dominated the EISL for nearly a decade.

The team started the year with several noticeable absences from last year’s championship team, including would-be seniors John Cole and James Lawler— both of whom took the year off to train for this summer’s Olympics—and graduating captain Dan Shevchik ’03.

Yet the team, which included 14 freshmen, picked up right where it left off last year, coming flying out of the gate to notch several impressive victories.

The Nov. 21, 2003 season opener saw the Crimson soundly defeat the Columbia Lions 185-114, winning 12 of the 16 events held.

Senior Rassan Grant and sophomores Mark Knepley and David Cromwell led the team, each turning in multi-victory performances in the team’s return to New York City.

Co-captain Kemi George was particularly impressed with Knepley and Cromwell, who would continue to deliver throughout the season.

“[They] both had exceptional freshman campaigns for the team and they haven’t missed a step,” he said. “They’ve come back their sophomore year with continued resolve to keep building on what they had last year.”

Cromwell, who specializes in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke, would turn out to be the team’s most successful individual swimmer, finishing the year undefeated in all backstroke events. Cromwell and Grant both earned Honorable Mention All-American status.

The Crimson travelled to South Bend, Ind. for the Notre Dame Invitational, where it placed second overall in an 11-team field, before returning to Cambridge for its Dec. 8 home opener against Brown. Harvard won that competition decisively, 193.5 to 97.5, claiming 11 of the 16 events.

Fall exams meant that the team that travelled to Annapolis, Md. on Jan. 3, 2004 to meet Navy had been on 26-days rest, but that did not prevent the Crimson from turning in a decisive victory, 204-94.

Harvard destroyed the Midshipmen, placing first in 13 of 16 events. Crimson swimmers lost the three other events by a combined 0.36 seconds.

Cromwell led the team, winning the 100-yard backstroke by a 3.09 second margin and the 200-yard by 4.81 seconds.

George down-played the difficulty of bouncing back from the long lay-off.

“We make the best of whatever schedule we have,” he said. “Come meet time it will not be hard for guys on the team to step up and perform on a compepetitive level.”

Co-captain Kevin Budis added that the win was indicative of how the team has adapted to the losses of Shevchik, Cole and Lawler—by relying on a range of able swimmers rather than a select few big names.

“What we have this year is a much younger group of guys that are looking for their place on the team. There’s a lot of different people swimming with a lot to offer,” he said.

The next weekend saw the Crimson travel to Chapel Hill to face No. 21 North Carolina. Building on momentum from the week before and behind several strong performances by Grant, the Crimson upset the Tar Hills, 157-143.

Grant placed first in the 100- and 200-yard breastroke, while tossing in a leg’s work on the 200-yard medley relay. He was runner-up in the 200-yard individual medley.

The much-anticipated H-Y-P tri-meet on Jan. 30 might well have been called the H-P, because the Elis were a non-factor throughout and were soundly defeated 245-106 by the Crimson and 272-79 by the Tigers.

But the Crimson found more of a fight in the Tiger than it did in the Bulldog.

The competition came down to the wire and the Crimson suffered their first loss of the year, 192-161.

Budris said the Crimson simply ran out of time.

“This was a situation where a team was finishing 1-2 or 1-2-3 and the other team would come right back and do that in the next event,” he said. “We were trading events. If there were more events, there’s no doubt in my mind that the same thing would have happened for another hour.”

The team looked forward to exacting revenge at the EISL Championships at the same Princeton, N.J. venue just over a month later, but not before defeating Cornell, Dartmouth and Pennsylvania. The Crimson beat Penn by its most decisive margin of the year, 237-62.

The team entered March’s EISL championships with a 7-1 record in league competition as well as last year’s championship trophy, but a title defense was not in the cards.

Despite placing first in nine races—three more than Princeton’s six—it was the Tigers who won the mathematical battle, 1423-1338.5.

The EISL Championship awards points for top-24, not only top eight finishes, giving Princeton the edge.

The Crimson made a last-minute push for the title, erasing 45.5 points from the Tiger lead over the course of four races to pull within 33.5 points.

But Princeton secured its second title in three years by placing first and third in the 200-yard butterfly, in which Harvard managed only a fourth-place finish.

Princeton’s greater depth allowed it to claim the title.

“We had a couple of guys that performed incredibly well in Rassan and Cromwell winning three individual events, but beyond that we struggled,” said Cameron Moccari ’05. “In terms of individual events it’s going to take a lot more than just two guys,”

While the season came to a disappointing end for most swimmers, Rassan and Cromwell travelled to East Meadow, NY for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

Rassan finished 13th overall in the 100-breaststroke, while Cromwell placed 9th in the 200-meter backstroke. Though he did not qualify for the championship final, Cromwell won the consolation final, touching the wall in 1:55.48.

—Staff writer William C. Marra can be reached at wmarra@fas.harvard.edu.