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Although the start of the collegiate swimming season is still months away, 16 members of the Harvard men’s swimming and diving team took to the pool to compete at the highest national level this summer. Facing off against the fastest swimmers in the country, the group of Crimson athletes traveled to Omaha, Neb. between June 26th and July 3rd for the U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials. The stakes were higher than usual, with the top two finishers in each event earning the right to represent the United States at the Olympics in Rio.

Harvard’s efforts at the meet were highlighted by a standout performance from sophomore Logan Houck, who outpaced some of the nation’s strongest swimmers to qualify for the final of the 1500 free. Houck ended up in sixth place overall, 24 seconds out from an Olympic spot, and ahead of Zane Grothe, a 12-time All-American from Auburn University, and 16-year-old phenom Robert Finke.

“Logan is a complete workhorse,” senior Sava Turcan said. “He is an outlier because not a lot of the best swimmers in the Ivy League are distance guys. Harvard swimming has had a bit of a drought in great distance talents, so it’s certainly nice to see [Houck] succeed.”

A number of other Crimson athletes also had strong showings at the event, including junior Shane McNamara, who collected an 18th-place result in the 200 breast that saw him narrowly miss out on a place in the final.

Houck and McNamara also finished 28th in the 400 free and 39th in the 100 breast, respectively, while senior Christian Carbone and junior Steven Tan cracked the top 50 as well. The meet marked Carbone’s second trip to Olympic Trials, and the senior exactly equaled his mark from his first visit, ending up 30th in the 400 IM in both 2012 and 2016. Tan had the 42nd-best time in the 100 butterfly.

Continuing the run of strong Harvard results, seniors Paul O’Hara and Max Yakubovich and sophomores Gavin Springer, Daniel Tran, and Brennan Novak all finished inside the top 100. O’Hara came in 51st in the 50 free, Novak ended up 72nd in the 400 free, Tran was 68th in the 200 back, and Yakubovich ended his race in the 100 butterfly in 80th place.

Springer and Novak also had a close race in the 1500 free, ending up 86th and 92nd, respectively.

Senior Jack Manchester and sophomore Sebastian Lutz put in competitive times at the meet as well, with Manchester ending up in 114th in the 100 back and Lutz finishing in 128th place in the 50 free.

Some of the strongest Harvard performances of the meet came from a pair of athletes who have not yet seen the pool for the Crimson.

Dean Farris and Daniel Chang, incoming Harvard freshmen, lived up to the impressive billing of the 17 high school All-America honors that they share between them. Farris competed in four events at trials and came away with a 39th-place result in the 100 free. Meanwhile, Chang ended the meet with top-100 marks in both the 100 and 200 breast events.

“Trials is a very difficult meet to swim at because of all the added hype, so for them to swim at or better than their personal bests shows a lot about their maturity and ability to handle pressure,” Turcan said.

The trials saw strong showings not only from future Crimson athletes, but from past Harvard swimmers as well. Three Crimson graduates, Alex Meyer ’10, Griffin Schumacher ’15, and Spenser Goodman ’15 made the trip to Omaha to vie for a spot on the Olympic team.

The 2016 meet marked the second trip to Olympic Trials in four years for both Schumacher and Goodman, and both athletes dramatically improved on their results from the 2012 event. Goodman ended up 60th in the 200 free, while Schumacher touched the wall 34th in the 50 free and 43rd in the 100 free. Both swimmers bettered their finishes from four years ago by at least 40 spots.

Meyer, meanwhile, has enjoyed an impressive career in swimming after leaving Harvard, and the Ithaca, N.Y. native competed at the 2012 Olympic games. He ended up in 20th place in the 1500 free at the 2016 trials.

–Staff writer Sam O.M. Christenfeld can be reached at schristenfeld@college.harvard.edu.