Men's Swimming and Diving Seeks Fourth Straight Win In Yale-Princeton Dual Meet

The Harvard men’s swimming and diving team has bad memories of DeNunzio Pool. A little less than a year ago, the Crimson’s perfect season was dashed when the team fell to Princeton in the Tigers’ home pool to end up second at the 2015 Ivy League Championships.

This weekend, Harvard (8-0, 5-0 Ivy) will seek to erase the memory of last year’s disappointing finish when it returns to DeNunzio to take on Princeton (4-0, 4-0) and Yale (8-1, 4-1) in its final meet of the regular season. The stakes are high, as the Crimson enters the competition with an undefeated season and sole ownership of first place in the Ancient Eight standings on the line.

“Heading into HYP, the biggest goal is to perform to the best of our ability,” freshman Daniel Tran said. “Overall, all we want to do is race and hopefully beat some of the biggest competition we have faced so far this year.”

Although the Tigers edged Harvard for the title at the Ivy Championships last year, the Crimson has not lost to either Princeton or Yale in the regular season since 2012, and Harvard will come into the weekend with significant momentum. The Crimson has been undefeated in the regular season since January 2014.

“Every season we have the goal of winning every dual meet, and we have been successful over the past three years by going undefeated in the Ivy League, so as a senior there is definitely a mentality that we would like to keep that streak alive,” co-captain Christian Yeager said.

Harvard’s success this season has been paced by a number of standout performances from individual athletes, such as sophomore David Pfeiffer, who has been dominant on the diving board. The Merrimack, N.H., native has finished inside the top three in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events eight times this season, including four wins.

The Crimson’s string of commanding solo performances has also manifested itself in the pool, where Tran has emerged as a leader for the team, capturing an individual victory in every meet this year.

However, these standout showings have served to highlight the depth that has propelled Harvard to the verge of a second consecutive undefeated season.

The Crimson’s range of talent is most evident in the relay events, including the 200 medley relay, where the team has tallied five wins this season with three different lineups. Nine different swimmers have garnered at least one win in the event for Harvard this year.

Despite the Crimson’s streak of successful results, it will face a formidable challenge in Princeton and Yale.

“We are definitely competing with the mentality of underdogs since we placed second at Ivy Champs last year,” Yeager said.

The Tigers, currently tied for first place in the Ivy League, have yet to drop a dual meet this season, and the team finished first at the Big Al Invitational in December.

Princeton’s run of commanding results has been driven by consistent performances from its veterans, most notably senior En-Wei Hu-Van Wright, who has led the team with a run of individual and relay victories.

Yale had a comparably quick start to its season, but dropped an Ivy League decision to Penn earlier this month to fall to second place in the conference standings. Despite the setback, the Bulldogs will take on Harvard and Princeton boasting an impressive record.

Yale’s underclassmen have emerged as some of the team’s strongest athletes, among them freshman Scott Bole and sophomore Kei Hyogo. Bole burst onto the scene this year with a series of first-place finishes in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle, and Hyogo has established himself as one of the league’s strongest swimmers in the 400 IM and 200 butterfly.

The tri-meet carries extra significance, as it is the final chance for the Crimson to build momentum before it enters the championship portion of its season.

“This meet should be a really good indicator of how the Ivy Champs should turn out,” Tran said. “Hopefully, performing well at this meet will give us confidence going into the last stretch of the season.”­

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