The reign is over.
Bidding for its seventh straight Eastern title and tenth in the last 11 years, the Harvard men’s swimming and diving team was unseated by Princeton in its own backyard this weekend. Despite three individual wins each by Harvard sophomore John Cole and junior Dan Shevchik, the Crimson saw the Tigers rally back from a 42.5-point deficit after two days of competition—not to mention a third-place showing at the H-Y-P meet last month—to claim its first title since 1995.
“Our coach said that he was disappointed for us but not in us,” senior Ryan Egan said. “We all really swam well. I would have loved to have four championships and walk out with only one dual meet loss, but it just didn’t happen.”
Harvard earned 1,494 points—28 shy of Princeton’s 1,522—while Yale placed third with 1201.5 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swim League Championships (EISL) at Blodgett Pool.
Cole and Shevchik shared the Moriarty Award, given to the meet’s high scorers, with Princeton junior Jesse Gage. Tigers’ freshman diver Kent DeMond was the meet’s most outstanding diver. It was Shevchik’s third straight and Cole’s second straight Moriarty Award.
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Going into the third day of competition, Harvard had led throughout the entire meet. Yet, the Tigers spent day three catching the Crimson, and by the last two finals, they had taken first.
“They had a really strong final night and they kept catching us little by little and breaking our lead,” Egan said. “After the 200 fly, the scoreboard changed and we were in second.”
DeMond won the three-meter diving event with 527.4 points while Harvard sophomore Roy Enrique placed fourth with 491.2. The 32 points from the win gave Princeton a certain advantage over Harvard going into the final event—the 400 freestyle relay.
“After the diving, we kind of knew that even if we won the relay, we wouldn’t win the meet,” Cole said. “At that point, we just wanted to keep our pride and cheer on our final event.”
In the final, Princeton won and broke the record set last year by the same exact foursome, with a time of 2:57.44. Harvard came in second, with junior Ryan Parmenter, freshman Nick Langan and sophomores James Lawler and Brad Burns finishing in 2:58.95.
“We all knew it was going to be close, but I don’t think any of us expected it to be that close, and none of us expected to lose,” Egan said.
Princeton’s victory was surprising because the Tigers fell to both the Elis and the Crimson at the H-Y-P meet on Feb. 1-2. Harvard beat Princeton 191-162, yet, less than a month later, the Tigers managed to bite back.
“In the past, they have normally tapered and shaved for H-Y-P,” co-captain John Persinger said. “This year, they decided to pick their Eastern team ahead of time and wait and shave for this weekend.”
Princeton’s focus on EISLs paid off as the selected Tigers were well-rested and prepared to take the championship from the host.
“We’ve had a variety of plans the last couple years,” Persinger said. “This year, we decided to wait until the conference meets for everyone to shave. Our coach didn’t pick the team until about a week out and kept everyone on their toes.”
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