M. Swimming Sinks All Comers at Harvard Invite

Don't mess with the home team.

The men's swimming teams from the University of Massachusetts (UMass), Central Connecticut State (CCSU) and New Hampshire (UNH) learned that lesson over the weekend at the Harvard Men's Swimming Invitational, held at Blodgett Pool.

Right from the beginning, the Crimson completely dominated the meet, out-pointing the other teams in virtually every event. Harvard's final score of 1,891 points reflected the team's depth; the Crimson not only won the majority of the events, but it also had a cast of characters who filled the top 16 point scoring spots.

At the end of competition yesterday, Harvard recorded a final score of 1891. UMass was second with 653, CCSU third with 528 and UNH totaled 352. After last week's season-opening win over Columbia and Army, the team remains unbeaten.

On Friday night, Harvard began the meet with a resounding win in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The A-squad of freshman Matt Wrenshall, sophomore Jamie Waters, captain John Samuel and junior Ben Rosen turned in a 6:24.36 to win, while the C-, B- and D- squads followed in second third and fourth place. By sweeping the top places, Harvard racked up the ever-important relay points, which are double the points for any individual event. In this relay alone, the Crimson piled up 136 points.

In the 1650-yard freestyle, junior standout Tim Martin won with a 15:11.05, while senior Denis Sirringhaus and junior Brian Cadman followed in second and third. Freshman Ryan Egan also turned in a notable fifth-place finish.

At the end of the events on Friday, Harvard led with 225 points. UMass was a distant second with 76, UNH had 53 and CCSU could only muster 49.

Saturday's events began with the 200 freestyle relay, where again the Crimson's A squad (Samuel, senior Alex Kurmakov, Waters and sophomore Adam Shaw) won decisively with a 1:24.21. In the 200-yard butterfly, sophomore Will Oren cruised in for second place in a time of 1:48.77.

The results of the 200-yard freestyle event which followed again spoke to Harvard's depth. Wrenshall placed second, Martin placed right on his heels in third, Samuel finished fifth, Waters claimed sixth and Kurmakov came in eight. Not only did Harvard claim most of the top eight, but it also swam for the key top 16 points. Junior Jan Sibbersen was 10th, Rosen 11th, junior Brian Swinteck 14th, sophomore Chris Park 15th and sophomore Dan Barnes 16th to round out the places.

"Our freshman class is quite strong this year, and the depth they add will definitely help us when we meet Princeton and Yale later in the season," captain Greg Wriede said.

Other individual winners for the Crimson on Saturday were Wrenshall in the 100-yard breastroke (58.03), Oren in the 400-yard individual medley (3:54.14) and Rosen in the 100 free (45.84).

Also on Saturday were the one-meter and three-meter diving events. Sophomore Greg Walker dove well, earning a score of 573.05 points, and he edged out second-place junior Ed Hefferon from UMass by 10 points. Freshman Erik Frost turned in a notable fourth place with 466.65 points, and freshman Amias Moore Gerety earned eighth place with 337.95. Walker, Harvard's lone scorer in the three-meter diving, won that event as well with 693.15 points, this time out-doing Hefferon by 100 points.

Saturday's competition closed out with a climactic 400 medley relay. Again, Harvard's A squad raced in top form to a first place, at 3:25.33. Senior James Zenyuh led off, followed by Wrenshall, Shaw and Samuel on the anchor leg. The B, D and C squads also contributed third, fourth and fifth place finishes respectively, and these big relay points all but put the meet out of reach for the other teams.

At the end of the day on Saturday, Harvard led with 1046 total points, with UMass trailing in second with a distant 339 points.

Yesterday, the men continued with a string of dazzling performances. Sophomore Michael Im, Wrenshall, Shaw and Kurmakov teamed up for a win in the 200 medley relay, and Wriede smoked the field in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:50.46 and repeated with a win in the 200 individual medley (1:53.96). Kurmakov sprinted to a very respectable 21.02 victory in the 50 freestyle.

The top 16 was most crowded with Harvard swimmers in the results for the 500-yard freestyle. Martin won with 4:26.71, and he was followed by Sirringhaus in second, Cadman in third, Oren in fourth, sophomore Michael Graves in sixth, Wrenshall in seventh and sophomore Tjin Ding Thum in eight. They were all complemented by important finishes by Sibbersen in 10th, freshman Ben Hanley in 11th, Barnes in 12th and freshman Michael Sabala in 14th. When the competitive dual meets begin later in the season, the men will be well off with such incredible depth in each event.

"For being early in the season, this meet really showed our capabilities as a team," Wrenshall said.

After this resounding victory in competition, the Crimson will again focus on its winter training program. Over the holiday break, Harvard will travel to Boca Raton, Fla. for its training trip, and then it will return for an important dual meet against Navy on January 9.