Crimson Cruises Against Soft Opposition

The Harvard men’s swimming and diving team remains undefeated afterpicking up a pair of easy victories over Brown (3-1, 2-1 EISL) and Boston University (7-2) this past weekend. With a decisive 202-98 win over the Bears on Friday and 176-120 finish over the Terriers on Saturday, the Crimson improved its season mark to 6-0 and 5-0 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League.

“We swam really well,” said senior co-captain Sam Wollner of his team’s performance. “We went up against two teams who aren’t as competitive as us, but we pushed ourselves.”

The effort of the Harvard swimmers and divers was obvious in the scoring of the meets, and will hopefully carry through to next weekend’s combined contest against Princeton and Yale.

“[This weekend] was a little bit of a tune-up course,” said Wollner. “It was a good way to prepare for this weekend’s big battle, and it was a little bit of a confidence booster too.”

HARVARD 176, BU 120

Key performances from multiple athletes helped give Harvard the edge over the Terriers, capturing first-place finishes in 10 out of the 16 events as the two teams faced off in BU’s home pool.

Junior Bill Jones contributed to three of these 10 victories, taking the top spot in both the 200-freestyle and 100-butterfly.

Jones, along with senior Pat Quinn, junior David Guernsey, and freshman Justin Davidson, also earned the win in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:33.78.

“Jones had a really good meet,” Wollner said. “That was a tough two-day combo for us, [but] Bill swam really well.”

Many other swimmers claimed additional firsts for the Crimson, including junior Dan Jones in the 200-yard butterfly and freshman Jordan Diekema in the 100-yard backstroke. Wollner, sophomore Jordan Waterman, senior co-captain Geoff Rathgeber and junior Eric Lynch also added first place victories to Harvard’s total.

However, the Crimson will have to use the momentum from these past meets as they face two of their more challenging opponents this coming weekend in New Haven.

“Our focus is for the meet this weekend,” Winslow said. “[But] it was good to put these two easy victories under our belt.”

HARVARD 202, BROWN 98

The Crimson breezed past Brown this past Friday afternoon, as they hosted the Bears for Senior Day and their final home meet of the regular season.

Harvard claimed first place in thirteen of the events, and captured second place in nine of these as well. Rathgeber had a strong day in leading his teammates to victory, placing first in four events. Rathgeber won the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard breaststroke, with times of 1:41.47 and 2:05.98 respectively.

He also contributed to the first place finish of the 200-yard medley relay team, along with Jones, Guernsey, and Davidson, and the 200-yard freestyle relay, with Guernsey, senior Pat Quinn and freshman Will Heyburn. Wollner and Quinn also contributed first place victories to the Crimson’s effort in the 1000-yard freestyle and 200-yard IM, and 50-yard free, respectively.

Freshman Henry Winslow also had an outstanding performance, receiving the coveted Ironman award from his teammates. The Ironman recognizes the freshman who best represents Harvard men’s swimming and diving, based largely on his commitment and hard work.

“[Winslow] was really impressive,” Wollner said.

Winslow is the first diver to ever receive the Ironman, which has traditionally only been given to a swimmer.

“I was very surprised,” Winslow said of receiving the award. “It’s a great honor.”

—Staff writer Alexandra J. Mihalek can be reached at amihalek@fas.harvard.edu.