Senior Nick Cirella took third place in the 200 breaststroke at the ECAC Swimming Championships at Blodgett Pool this weekend, contributing to a strong first-place finish by Harvard.

Harvard men’s swimming and diving took the ECAC Swimming Championships by storm this weekend at Blodgett Pool, taking first place out of 17 teams.

The Crimson totaled 513 points, trailed by second-place Marist (458.5 points) and third-place Columbia (387.5).

Harvard held a commanding lead for all three days of the contest, highlighted by a number of swimmers achieving personal bests.

“Everybody was really pleased with how they swam,” said co-captain Brian Fiske of his team’s performance. “There were very few people who weren’t hitting their best times.”

One of the standouts was freshman Tommy Gray, who broke 16 minutes to win the 1650-yard freestyle—the only individual win of the day for the Crimson.

Gray also picked up second-place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and 800-yard freestyle relay, and third place in the 200-yard freestyle.

Junior Michael Bowen added a solid performance, taking first in the 200-yard freestyle and fourth in the 200-yard individual medley.

He also teamed with Gray, sophomore Tim Parent, and freshman Tyler Holland to snag second place in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

Freshman Michael Dunn gained points for the Crimson with a seventh place finish in the 200-yard individual medley, a fourth in the 400-yard individual medley relay, and a third in the 200-yard back.

“This was our first championship,” Dunn said. “And it was really important for us to get some good positive momentum going.”

“I think we definitely capitalized on that,” he added.

This meet showcased the up-and-coming talent on the Harvard team.

Swum by those individuals not competing in next week’s Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL) Championships at Princeton, it gave many underclassmen the opportunity to perform in a different, and more intense, setting.

“It’s to give them a chance to swim a championship meet at the end of the year,” co-captain Jason Degnan-Rojeski said.

That is not the only purpose of this meet, though.

The performances at ECAC help to decide who will fill the last two spots on next week’s roster as well as provide motivation for the team traveling to Easterns.

“The people going to Easterns were there watching,” Degnan-Rojeski said.

“We got really psyched up seeing the rest of the swimmers swim fast,” Fiske said. “It gets us into a winning and racing mentality.”

The team hopes this weekend’s exceptional showing will do just that and power the Crimson to a victory at Easterns.

Either way, the strong performance by Harvard’s underclassmen promises the program competitive squads for years to come.

“It was great for them,” Degnan-Rojeski said. “They came out and performed well and beat every other team there.”