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.”
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.”
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