The Harvard men’s swimming and diving team returned from the holiday break with two decisive victories over competitive opponents, scoring a 202.5-97.5 victory over Rutgers on Friday and a 170-130 win over Navy on Saturday.

Although the Crimson had not competed in over a month, it did travel to Puerto Rico over the holiday break for a week of intense training and team bonding. It was a demanding trip, but the fruits of Harvard’s labor could already be seen in the team’s first meets of the new year.

“The training trip is really a turning point of the season,” co-captain Bill Cocks said. “We got a lot of good training in and got to know each other better outside of the pool. The trip helped us to establish ourselves as a team and helped us each improve our times.”

HARVARD 170, NAVY 130

The 24th-ranked Crimson (4-1), which won 11 of 16 events, handed the Midshipmen their first loss in 10 meets this season. Cocks, sophomore Geoff Rathgeber, and freshman Eric Lynch each won two individual races, as Harvard won six of the last seven events.

The Crimson took the top three spots in three different events and the top four spots in one to grab decisive points from Navy (9-1, 2-1 EISL). Cocks led the first sweep, recording a victory in the 200 butterfly in 2:07.76, followed by freshman Dan Jones and junior Jason Degnan-Rojeski.

“We were very strong in both butterflies,” said co-captain Dave Cromwell, who won two relays and one individual victory. “We placed one through four in the 100 butterfly, which is a pretty rare occurrence.”

Freshman Bill Jones narrowly beat his brother, Dan, to score first in the 100 butterfly in 57.28.

Rathgeber scored one of his victories in the 400 individual medley. Rathgeber also notched an earlier victory in the 100 meter breaststroke.

Although the Crimson often notches first place finishes, the multitude of second- through fourth-place finishers helped it score decisive victories.

“The big difference in both meets was the amount of guys taking spots 2-4,” Cromwell said. “We’ve had a lot of event winners so far this year, but we haven’t really had a lot of people coming in to get points behind them. Eddie Jou was the perfect example, as he placed second in the 100 backstroke, preventing Navy from getting points even if we didn’t win the race.”

HARVARD 202.5, RUTGERS 97.5

Tired and unsure of what to expect heading into the meet against Rutgers, Harvard nevertheless won the first 11 races and had several standout performances in notching a 202.5-97.5 victory.

The Crimson opened the meet with a one-two finish in the 200 meter medley. The team of Cromwell, Rathgeber, Jones, and senior Mark Knepley won the race with a time of 1:32.01.

Following the opening victory, Harvard continued to overpower the Midshipmen and went on to win the next ten races in a row. By the time Navy scored another first-place victory in the 500 freestyle, the Crimson already held a decisive advantage.

“The first relay helped to set the tone of the meet,” Cocks said. “It’s always nice to win the relays, and any time you can get all eight guys to work hard and pull out a one-two finish it’s great. It was definitely a confidence booster.”

Cromwell and Rathgeber each won two events for Harvard, and Cromwell set a pool record in the 200 backstroke. Degnan-Rojeski had four top-three finishes.

“Jason has been doing incredible recently,” Cromwell said. “We’ve been happy to see him get in the spotlight a little bit more recently. He’s always one of our most consistent swimmers, and it’s great to see him getting some good finishes.”

Freshman David Guernsey had a breakout performance for Harvard, as he tallied two second places and one first in one of his best performances of the season.

“Guernsey did a great job in the 50 free, which he won,” Cromwell said. “It was exciting to see him up there—he’s been working really hard and had a good meet.”

Harvard will not compete again until January 27th, when it will host EISL opponent Brown at 4 PM. In the interim, the Crimson will try to remain focused on the competition ahead while also preparing for finals.

“This period if one of the hardest parts of the season,” Cromwell said, “as we try to balance the studying and finals and yet still remain in good physical and mental condition. We try to be accommodating as teammates and the coaches make it easy for us to be flexible.”

—Staff writer Julie R. S. Fogarty can be reached at fogarty2@fas.harvard.edu.