The Harvard Men's Swimming Team scored a dramatic come-from-behind victory to take first place in the three-day Men's Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL) Championship, which ended Tuesday night, in the DeNunzio Pool of Princeton University, in Princeton, N.J.

Harvard's victory in the Easterns broke the Tigers' five year stranglehold on the title and gave the Crimson its first title since 1986.

Going into the third day of the competition, Harvard was down 25 points to its Ivy archrival Princeton.

But the Crimson dominated the final day and won with 694 points while second place Princeton could garner only 662.

Inspired by Harvard Coach Mike Chasson pep talk on the eve of the last day of competition, the Crimson swept the second event of the day, the 200-yard backstroke. Led by the performance of senior Co-Captain Tom Peterson who registered a 1:44.73 to win the event, Harvard also took second through fourth and eighth in the event.

The backstroke set the tone for the rest of the meet, as Harvard went on to take first and second in the 200-yard butterfly, followed by a surprising first place in the 200-yard breaststroke courtesy of sophomore Richard Ou's who swam a career-best 2:00.56.

Ou's dominating swim all but assured Harvard of the victory.

"The coach called us in Monday night and told us our situation," Peterson said. "He basically told us to just pick a Princeton swimmer in each event and beat him."

Peterson credited the Crimson's success to the team's tremendous depth.

"In a championship format, the fifth, sixth, and seventh swimmers are extremely important, and luckily we have extraordinary depth," Peterson said.

Peterson Leads the Way

Although Peterson gives credit to depth, Harvard would have been lost without his tremendous individual effort.

Peterson swam the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, and the 200-yard backstroke, capturing first in all three individual events, making him the overall individual high scorer in the competition.

Peterson also broke DeNunzio pool records and the meet records in all three events, as well as breaking Harvard records in the 400-yard individual medley and the 200-yard backstroke.

These outstanding performances have earned him spots in the NCAA championships, including a second seed in the 400-yard individual medley.