Harvard Men's Swimming Remains Unbeaten, Wins Pair

If you haven’t been paying attention to the Harvard men’s swimming and diving squad so far, now would be the time to start. The Crimson has not lost in its first five events—a feat only one other Harvard athletics team has accomplished this year—and is showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

This weekend, the Crimson traveled to Boston, Mass., and Storrs, Conn., to compete in its first two non-conference meets of 2010-11. Harvard (5-0, 3-0 Ivy) kicked off the weekend on Friday afternoon with a dominant performance over Boston University to win, 156-106. The squad continued its streak against Connecticut on Saturday afternoon, this time in an even more impressive fashion, downing the Huskies, 182-118.

“It’s always tough to compete in back-to-back meets like that, but I think we did a good job keeping our focus from day to day,” co-captain Justin Davidson said. “We definitely had some guys who stepped up and had some pretty fast swims, especially considering we’re at the peak of our training right now. I’m really excited about our undefeated record.”

HARVARD 182, CONNECTICUT 118

The Crimson struggled slightly in the relay events, but like in past meets, the team stood out in the individual events to take down Connecticut for its fifth win of the season.

Sophomore Greg Roop kicked things off with his second victory of the weekend, taking the 1000-yard medley in 9:35.77—almost a full eight seconds ahead of any of his competitors. Senior Blake Lewkowitz and sophomore Matthew Kaminske grabbed second and third to give Harvard the lead for the first time.

The 100-yard backstroke turned out to be a much closer race, coming down to two Crimson teammates on the last lap. Freshman Jack Pretto started out the event in first, touching the wall at the first 50 meters just before junior Robert Newell. Newell gained slightly on Pretto to shave a few hundredths of a second off the freshman’s lead, but he could not pass him in time. Pretto kept his lead to take the event in a photo finish, just two hundredths of a second ahead of Newell.

In the second-to-last event, Harvard had already secured the win, but that did not stop the squad from taking the top three positions in the 200-yard individual medley. Junior Niall Janney stayed in front the whole race, posting a time of 1:54.52. Co-captain Douwe Yntema got off to a fast start, but Newell passed him during the race to overtake second, leaving Yntema to finish third.

HARVARD 156, BU 106

The Crimson opened the weekend with a victory over Boston University, its first non-conference opponents of the season. The divers got the team out to a quick lead in the diving competition, which took place earlier in the week. Senior Zac Ranta earned first in the one-meter event, and sophomore Michael Stanton took second place. In the three-meter competition, the two divers swapped positions, with Stanton grabbing first place and Ranta taking second.

“I think that we were consistent and that we performed well,” Ranta said. “There’s always room to improve, but we’re at a good part of the season right now.”

The divers gave the Crimson the early lead, but the freestyle events put Harvard over the top. The team placed first in five of the six events and completely commanded the first two individual events, boasting a 1-2-3 finish in both the 1000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle.

Roop gained an early lead in the event and stayed out in front the entire time to win the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:39.34, his first of two victories during the weekend. Kaminske placed second, with junior Matthew McLean completing the sweep of the top three for Harvard.

In the 200-yard freestyle, sophomore Brendan McIntee finished the event in first after maintaining his lead for the whole race. Lewkowitz got off to a rough start behind his competitors after the first 50 meters, but the veteran turned on the heat in the last portion of the race. He managed to squeeze past freshman Will Brophy at the end of the race to take second place by one hundredth of a second.

Harvard has proven to be unstoppable so far this year, and with performances like these, the squad will be a challenge for any of its competitors in the pool.

—Staff writer Steven T. A. Roach can be reached at sroach@fas.harvard.edu.