Men's Swimming Sweeps Trio in Utah

Non-conference opponents can often present a challenge, but the No. 23 Harvard men’s swimming and diving team had no difficulty in dispatching a trio of rivals from outside of the Ivy League this weekend.

The Crimson traveled out West for a pair of meets on Friday and Saturday, sweeping aside BYU (1-2) in Provo, Utah, before topping Utah (4-4) and No. 24 Denver (5-3) in Salt Lake City. The wins allowed Harvard (6-0, 3-0 Ivy) to maintain its unblemished record.

The Crimson’s efforts were spearheaded yet again by freshman Dean Farris, who picked up a team-high seven wins across the two meets.

The first-year’s classmates were not far behind, with freshman Daniel Chang collecting two individual victories, fellow rookie Zach Snyder racking up a trio of top-three finishes, and freshman Raphael Marcoux chipping in a relay win.

The strong performances in both meets added to what has been an impressive debut season for Farris and the Harvard freshmen in general.

“The freshman class has really stepped up this entire season,” junior Kent Haeffner said. “They've been doing all the right things in and out of the pool, and that's been reflected in the times they've produced. We're excited about what they can do going forward.”

Utah and Denver

Led by four wins from Farris, Harvard held off the Utes and No. 24 Pioneers by margins of 192-133 and 196-124, respectively, to improve to 6-0 on the season.

Despite having to stop late pushes from both opponents, the Crimson took top marks in eight of 14 events, placing swimmers on the podium in all but two races.

Farris played a part in half of the team’s wins. In the opening event of the meet, the first-year anchored the lineup of juniors Steven Tan and Shane McNamara and senior Max Yakubovich as the quartet took top marks in the 200 medley relay.

The meet ended the way it began, with Farris collecting another team victory in the 400 freestyle relay along with junior Ed Kim, senior Jack Manchester, and classmate Marcoux.

In between the relays, Farris also notched a pair of solo wins. The Atlanta native touched the wall first in both the 100 and 200 freestyle events. Snyder took third place in the 200 free.

Harvard showed the same depth it has all season, with the upperclassmen picking up a number of victories as well, starting with a win for sophomore Brennan Novak in the 1000 freestyle. Sophomore Logan Houck took third in the event.

McNamara notched a solo victory of his own in the 100 breaststroke, beating second-place Chang to the wall by less than a tenth of a second. Chang got revenge in the 200 breaststroke, taking top marks as co-captain Eric Ronda took second place.

Tan collected the Crimson’s final victory of the meet in the 100 butterfly, as Yakubovich finished less than a second behind the junior for third place.

Tan, Snyder, and junior Koya Osada each collected second-place finishes in the 50 freestyle, 200 backstroke, and 500 freestyle to cement the win.

BYU

Harvard faced a familiar opponent in BYU, having already raced against the Cougars at the Texas Invitational in November. The results from the previous meet were effectively repeated, as the Crimson defeated BYU in decisive fashion, 120-70, in the Cougars’ home pool.

The result was never really in doubt, as the team of Yakubovich, Manchester, McNamara, and Farris won the 400 medley relay to open the meet. Sophomore Daniel Tran, Chang, Tan, and sophomore Sebastian Lutz took second place in the event, more than a second ahead of the third-place finishers from BYU.

Harvard would go on to win every race, taking at least two of the top three spots in each event along the way.

The Crimson’s performance was highlighted by podium sweeps in the 1650 freestyle, 400 IM, and 200 backstroke.

Houck, sophomore Gavin Springer, and Snyder captured the top three spots in the 1650 free, while Chang took first, senior Christian Carbone ended up second, and Tran was third in the 400 IM. Tran would get his solo win in the 200 back, touching the wall ahead of second-place Manchester, with co-captain Mitchell Foster in bronze position.

Farris also added two more individual wins to his already extensive collection, taking top marks in both the 100 and 200 freestyle. Kim and senior Aly Abdel Khalik finished third in the 100 and 200-yard iterations of the event, respectively.

Elsewhere, Osada emerged victorious in the 200 butterfly, with senior Sava Turcanu four seconds behind in second place, putting an exclamation point on the victory.

With three more wins to its name, Harvard will return to Ivy League action next week with a perfect record and a sense of guarded confidence.

“This weekend was probably the hardest weekend in our schedule, so I think picking up three wins will definitely generate some positive momentum, especially mentally,” Yakubovich said. “The trick will be to not get complacent as we head into our last two regular season meets.”

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