Led by freshman Dan Shevchik--the newest Crimson All-American--the Harvard men's swimming team placed a respectable 26th at the NCAA Championships at Minneapolis during the first weekend of spring break. The NCAAs concluded a superb season for the five-time defending Eastern champions.

The meet also marked the conclusion of senior Tim Martin's spectacular collegiate career.

Shevchik's eighth-place finish in the 200 backstroke and 12th-place finish in the 400 individual medley were the top performances out of the four Crimson swimmers at the meet. Shevchik had won both events at the Eastern championships convincingly three weeks before.

His time of 1:56.33 in the 200 backstroke preliminaries was just enough to earn him one of the eight spots in the finals. Shevchik finished less than three-tenths of a second ahead of the ninth-place qualifier.

Although his preliminary time was within a second of top qualifier Matt Cole of Florida, Shevchik was unable to catch up in the final heat. Cole won the event with a time of 1:53.68, while Shevchik finished eighth with a time of 1:57.18.

"[In the final] I didn't feel as good as I did in the morning," Shevchik said. "I was a little disappointed with the 200 back. I had expected to contend for first."

Shevchik was a bronze medalist in the 200 backstroke at the 2000 Pan American Games.

"Overall, considering depth, this was the fastest meet I've ever been involved with," Shevchik said.