The selected Harvard team performed well all across the board, as Cole and Shevchik won three events apiece. Cole took first in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle races, while Shevchik won the 200 and 400 IMs and the 200 backstroke. Shevchik also set a pool record with his time of 3:48.2 in the backstroke, while he set the meet record in the event last year.

Lawler placed first in the 200 freestyle in 1:37.57, just touching out juniors from Princeton and Brown by .09 and .15 seconds respectively. Lawler also took second in the 100 freestyle, behind Gage.

“[Lawler] had a phenomenal meet with an incredible win in the 200 free,” Persinger said. “[Freshman] Ryan Smith also had some great swims.”

Sophomore Rassan Grant took third in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events. Ryan Egan won third in the 200 butterfly while his twin brother Kyle Egan garnered second in the 100 butterfly.

Kyle Egan finished behind Gage, who set one of Princeton’s four meet records, with a time of 47.81. The Tigers also set meet records in the 400 medley relay, the 100 breaststroke, and the 400 freestyle relay, the final event. Princeton’s foursome in the 200 medley relay set a pool record in 1:28.99.

While Cole qualified for NCAAs at the Texas Invitational in early December, there may not be many Crimson swimmers joining him at the championships on March 28-30, though several swimmers qualified for consideration this weekend.

“It looks as though it will just be myself and Dan Shevchik,” Cole said. “There are some outside shots and it really depends on how people across the nation do.”

Harvard suffered setbacks throughout the year, including the recent illness of co-captain Cory Walker that kept him from swimming this weekend.

“We kind of had a tough year with a lot of injuries and sicknesses,” Cole said. “Sometimes things just don’t go as planned. I felt like we dealt with these problems as best as we could.”

While it paid off for Princeton to rest its swimmers for EISLs, the Crimson appreciated the unity from not picking its conference team early.

“When a team such as Princeton decides to pick their conference team a month outside of the meet, it puts a division in their team,” Persinger said. “I felt like our team was really close the whole season.”

Harvard graduates four seniors in Kyle and Ryan Egan, Erik Frost and Michael Sabala, who is also a Crimson editor. Princeton, however, will graduate nine. Based on the strength of the veterans combined with the memory of this weekend, Ryan Egan feels confident that Harvard won’t stay in second for long.

“It’s really kind of interesting to see them celebrating in your pool,” he said. “I’m sure that the guys next year will respond to that and do whatever they can to win.”