AoTW: John Cole

There’s no race long enough for John Cole, and there hasn’t been any Ivy competition good enough for him, either.

“[He’s] a standout—we can always count on John Cole in his races,” sophomore Bill Cocks said.

Swimming isn’t supposed to be a lonely sport. Surrounded by seven others, most swimmers find themselves staring at the outstretched arm of opponents when they come up for a breath of air.

But when you’re a four-time Ivy champion in the 500, 1000, and 1650-yard freestyles, you get used to swimming alone—well ahead of your competition.

“It’s definitely challenging to push yourself for so long when you’re by yourself,” Cole said, “and you have nothing to push you except for your own determination.”

And when you win the 2005 EISL 1650-yard freestyle by almost 30 seconds, the only glimpse you get of other competitors comes when you lap them.

“I just pretend that people are ahead of me and I try to pass them. It’s kind of fun to do that especially when you’re swimming a rivalry team like [Princeton].”

Cole’s performance in the distance events over the weekend—he tallied 192 individual points and the Crimson bested Princeton by 96.5—propelled Harvard to its eighth EISL championship in the last ten years.

“This whole year my goal has been to find a way to get this team back on top,” Cole said. “It hasn’t been about my individual times. It’s really been about being number one again.”

When Cole took the 2003-2004 school year off to train for the 2004 Athens Olympics—he eventually finished 14th in at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 1500 meter freestyle—Harvard relinquished its EISL crown to the Tigers.

And while it took the Crimson an additional year to return to EISL dominance, Cole needed little time to reassert himself in Ivy League competition.

On the opening day of the EISL championships, Cole paced the field in the 500-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 4:20.18, more than 4.5 seconds before second-place Mike Smit of Cornell. Cole’s preliminary time in the event—4:24.02—was nearly a second faster than Smit’s mark of 4:24.86 in the championship final.

“He trains harder than anybody in the pool,” co-captain Andy Krna said. “It’s definitely fun to watch him swim that fast.”

Other swimmers have plenty of time to watch Cole as well. 25 meters into the average race—just one length of the pool—Cole has already separated himself from the rest of the field by over a body length.

On Friday, he cruised to a 15 second victory in the 1000-yard freestyle before rounding out the meet on Saturday with a new EISL record in the 1650-yard freestyle. Cole touched the wall in a time of 14:58.35, besting his own EISL record from his freshman campaign by 0.61 seconds.

“There’s no better example [of work ethic],” Krna said. “He trains harder than anybody in the pool and watching somebody train and race the way he does is inspiration for anybody on the team.”

Cole swept the individual swimming awards for the EISL meet, getting the nod for the Phil Moriarty Award as the weekend’s top performer. He shared the honor the other three years he competed at the EISL championships, and this year he earned the Harold Ulen Award, given to the swimmer with the highest career EISL point total.

“It was my last race at home,” Cole said, “and I was going to give it everything I had.”

That’s a typical refrain for Cole, who finished his Harvard career undefeated in the 500, 1000, and 1650-yard freestyles in EISL competition. Cole is the first swimmer in EISL history to compile a four-year win streak in any of the three distance events—and he established that mark in all of them.

“It was nice to go out with a record like that,” Cole said.

Nicer still is the invite he received to this year’s NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, held in Minnesota at the end of March. Cole finished seventh in the 1650-yard freestyle in 2003, earning All-America honors.

History suggests he won’t be swimming all alone in the deep NCAA field, but he’s certainly distinguished himself in the EISL record books.

—AIDAN E. TAIT