1996

Sports Statistics

Record: 13-1, 8-1 EISL

Easterns Finish: First

Coach: Mike Chasson

Key Players: Juniors Michael Kiedel, Eric Matuszak and Brian Younger

1997

The monster has been created.

For the second straight season, the Harvard men's swimming team sent eight competitors to the NCAA Championships, thus officially establishing itself as a national contender.

These individual accolades came off the heels of a dominating regular season that included Harvard's second consecutive Eastern Championship title. Guiding the Crimson to its fifth title in his six years at the helm was coach Mike Chasson, who not surprisingly walked away with the Eastern Coach of the Year award.

"I am really proud of our performances this year," co-captain Dave Alpert said. "It's not easy to bring 30 guys together and have them work as one cohesive unit, but we did that and it made the season better for everyone both in and out of the pool."

Last season, in which the team had seven All-Americans, a dominating 12-1 dual-meet record and a perfect 9-0 league mark, left very little room for improvement. The Crimson had already made the jump into the upper echelon of men's swimming. This season's challenge was to move up the national ladder.

All doubts were put to rest at Harvard's opening meet against Columbia and Army in November. Harvard outright destroyed its competition by margins of 120 and 138 points respectively.

"We pretty much demolished them," Alpert said after the meet.

That set the tone for the rest of the season.