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Harvard men’s swimming and diving traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., for the three-day Minnesota Invitational, where three Crimson athletes secured NCAA qualifying times.

The Crimson currently holds an undefeated standing, 4-0 overall and 3-0 Ivy. After a successful sweep at Columbia two weeks ago (180.50-119.50), Harvard was prepared to continue its performance on the road in Minneapolis.

Day 1

Preliminaries

The first day opened with preliminary rounds for the races. Freshman Pablo Martinez secured Harvard’s top finish in the men’s 500 freestyle, nabbing sixth place with a season-best time of 4:21.43. Sophomore Adriano Arioti then came in fourth place during the 200 IM with a season-best time of 1:47.10. Junior Sonny Wang finished fifth in the 50 freestyle with a final time of 19.49 seconds, just falling short of this season’s NCAA standard of 19.43.

Finals

Later in the day, sweat and grit prevailed for Harvard. In the 200 freestyle relay, Harvard placed second in the A-final. Wang, sophomore Marre Gattnar, freshman Maro Miknic, and sophomore Evan Croley came together to achieve a powerful finish at 1:17.85.

In the 500 freestyle, Martinez topped his preliminary time by a second, coming in at fifth in the A-final with a time of 4:20.28. For the 200 IM, Arioti also placed fifth at 1:46.72, beating his preliminary time in a grueling competition for the A-final. In the tough 50 freestyle A-final, Wang came in sixth place with a slower time of 19.56 compared to earlier in the day.

In the three-meter diving championship, freshman Chase Shipp placed sixth with a score of 314.90, improving on his seventh-place finish in the preliminaries. Junior Denny Gulia-Janovski followed in seventh with sophomore Will Sullivan coming in right behind at eighth place.

The Crimson ended the day strong with a dominant performance in the tenth swimming event of the day, the 400 medley relay. Finishing just under one second before Minnesota, Harvard’s quartet of Arioti, sophomore Joshua Chen, Miknic, and Wang dashed to first place at 3:09.23.

Day 2

Preliminaries:

Friday began with the 100 butterfly preliminaries, where Miknic narrowly missed the NCAA standard time, coming in fifth at 46.22. Wang followed shortly after in sixth place with a time of 46.29.

Sophomore Eric Lee placed fifth in the preliminary round of the 400 IM at 3:53.22, with fellow sophomore Richard Poplawski III following in seventh, less than a second behind at 3:53.68, both beating their respective seed times. In the 200 freestyle preliminaries, Harvard also prevailed against tense competition, with senior David Greeley blazing into fourth place (1:36.29) and Gattnar trailing after, to finish sixth (1:36.86).

The 100 breaststroke race also had close finishes, with Chen nabbing seventh at 53.97 seconds. Arioti persevered through the 100 backstroke, narrowly advancing to the A-finals and capturing the title of Harvard’s best 100 backstroke time of 47.92 seconds.

Finals

Returning to the pool for the finals, the 200 medley relay team consisting of Croley, Chen, junior David Schmitt, and Greeley powered through to a fourth-place finish at 1:27.14, trailing to the end of the pool just over one second behind Minnesota.

Amidst fierce competition, Wang finished fifth in the 100 butterfly A-final with a time of 46.64 seconds. Miknic was less than a second behind, at 46.99 seconds, placing sixth with a Denver University swimmer falling in between them.

Poplawski and Lee finished sixth and seventh in the 400 IM A-final, with respective times of 3:54.69 and 3:56.81, both performing slightly slower than their qualifying times.

In the 200 freestyle A-final, Greeley and Gattnar each beat their morning time and set new season-bests. Persevering through the close finishes, the Crimson secured top spots with Greeley coming in third with a time of 1:35.83 and Gattnar closing in right behind him at 1:36.03. In the 100 breaststroke A-final, Chen came in sixth with a time of 54.33 seconds.

After his record-setting performance earlier in the day, Arioti seized third place in the 100 back A-final with a time of 47.10 seconds.

For the one-meter diving event, senior Raphael Tourette placed third with a score of 316.65. Gulia-Janovski and freshman Rem Turatbekov followed, claiming fourth and fifth, respectively.

To finish the eventful day, Harvard once again dominated the final race, securing first place in the 800 freestyle relay. The trustworthy quad consisting of Greeley, Gattnar, Wang, and Croley beat Minnesota by two seconds.

Day 3

Preliminaries

Opening the day with the 200 backstroke, Arioti once again was Harvard’s top performer, narrowly missing the NCAA qualifying time of 1:42.14 but still earning third place with a 1:44.42 time.

For the 100 freestyle, Wang captured sixth place with a blazing season-best time of 43.04 seconds. Chen claimed second place in the 200 breaststroke with a season-best time of 1:55.87.

In a hard-fought battle for the 200 butterfly, Schmitt clinched fourth place with Arioti right behind him in fifth.

Finals

Freshman William Mulgrew opened the stage for Harvard by placing third in the 1650 freestyle, finishing with a hard-earned NCAA qualifying time of 14:53.09. Martinez trailed soon after in sixth with another notable performance and NCAA qualifying time of 15:06.11.

In the 200 backstroke, Arioti beat his preliminary time and placed third again at 1:43.01, just behind a swimmer from the University of California. In the 100 freestyle, Wang was Harvard's sole representative, as the California Bears made up all his A-final competitors. He delivered an impressive performance, racing to a fifth-place finish in 43.10 seconds.

Chen prevailed in the 200 breaststroke, dashing to third with a time of 1:56.49. Lee came in eighth, finishing in 2:01.78.

Schmitt led the field for the Crimson in the 200 butterfly, claiming third just after California and Minnesota. Securing the third NCAA qualifying time of the day for the Crimson, Schmitt came in at 1:43.31. Arioti finished in eighth with a time of 1:47.53.

To conclude the day, Wang, Gattnar, Croley, and Miknic joined forces to form Harvard’s A group for the 400 free relay. Coming in just under a second after California, the Crimson raced to fourth place in 2:52.68.

Next steps

After an eventful weekend with many milestones and successes to celebrate, Harvard concludes its schedule for 2025. The Crimson will return on January 10 to continue its Ivy League competition, when the team will host Brown University at the Blodgett Pool.

—Staff writer Kaylyn H. Kim can be reached at [email protected].