The Harvard men’s swimming and diving team encountered stiff competition at the Texas Invitational, placing seventh in the field.

“It was a really competitive meet,” said sophomore Andew Krna. “It was really fast featuring the top teams.”

Host Texas, ranked No. 3 in the nation, ran away with the meet, racking up 721 points en route to the victory.

Harvard, now ranked No. 22 nationally, was invited to the meet as a result of its No. 15 NCAA preseason ranking. That ranking was largely due to the squad’s success in last year’s NCAA Championships, where senior Dan Shevchik and junior John Cole earned all of the Crimson’s points.

Cole turned in a solid performance in the 1650-yard freestyle on Saturday, placing second in the field in a time of 15:02.82. USC’s Eric Vendt, an Olympic medalist, dominated the event, winning in a time of 14:42.97.

In the 200-yard backstroke, Shevchik took sixth, in a time of 1:45.92.

The event was won by Texas’ Aaron Peirsol—an Olympic silver medalist— who set a new meet record in a time of 1:41.34.

Vendt and Peirsol were not the only Olympians standing in the Crimson’s way. Knepley estimated there were at least five Olympians in the competition.

Against the unusually difficult opponents, the Crimson swimmers struggled to crack the top positions.

Additionally, Harvard’s lack of special preparation prior to the meet hindered the team’s overall performance.

“A lot of our guys weren’t rested or shaved for the race,” said freshman Andrew Knepley. “It was a schedule thing.”

Junior James Lawler took eighth in the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 1:48.29, trailing Arizona swimmer Juan Veloz’s record-setting pace by approximately six seconds.

The Harvard men’s swimming and diving team returns to action on Friday at the Calamari Invitational, hosted by Brown.

“Basically, [the Texas Invitational] was just another good meet to go to,” Krna said. “Now, we’ve just got to get ready for training for the main part of our season coming up.”

TEXAS INVITATIONAL