Rathgeber won the
Philip Moriarty and Harold Ulen trophies.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. –
The No. 22 Harvard men’s swimming and diving team captured three events
on the
final day of competition and 13 overall en route to claiming the 2008
EISL Championship Saturday at Blodgett Pool.
The win caps a perfect 9-0
season for Harvard and marks the 20th EISL title for the Crimson, the
first since 2005. The Crimson also claimed the Ivy League and EISL
regular-season titles this year.
The
Crimson finished the meet with 1,564 points, well ahead of second-place
Princeton (1208.5). Yale (925), Columbia (913.5) and Navy (869.5)
rounded out the top five team finishers.
Harvard got a huge boost in the opening event of the final day, placing
six swimmers among the top 12 finishers in the 1650-yard freestyle,
including the top three. Junior Eric
Lynch lead the bevy of Crimson
swimmers with an NCAA “B” qualifying time of 15:09.65 while Sam
Wollner
(15:11.48) and Alex
Meyer (15.14.62) followed in second and third and
also notched “B” qualifying marks. Mason
Brunnick met the “B” standard
with a sixth-place time of 15:25.18 and Blake
Lewkowitz and Douwe
Yntema rounded out the top 12 with times of 15:34.67 and 15.43.27,
respectively.
Freshman Jordan
Diekema followed with a win in the 200 backstroke,
completing the race in a “B” qualifying time of 1:46.56. Derick
Chui
(1:49.75) and Michael
Bowen (1:50.77) also scored points for Harvard in
the event.
A two-three finish in the 100 freestyle saw two more Harvard swimmers
claim “B” qualifying times as David
Guernsey finished second in 44.06
and Pat
Quinn was right on his heels at 44.13. Will
Heyburn also
chipped in points with a 13th-place time of 45.64. Pat Quinn set a new
team record in the prelims with a time of 43.83
Yet another event win came thanks to a “B” standard time by Geoff
Rathgeber, as he won the 200 breaststroke in a new team record
time of 1:58.97, nearly three
seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Justin
Davidson added 25
points for Harvard with a 2:02.13 finish, good for fifth place.
Bill
Jones and brother Dan
Jones had strong showings in the 200
butterfly. Bill set a new team record with a time of 1:45.12
for second, Dan's time was 1:47.28 for sixth
place, respectively. Both times were NCAA “B” qualifying marks and
Bill’s time eclipsed the previous EISL meet record in the event.
In the three-meter diving event, the Crimson received strong showings
from Luke Sanders and Zac
Ranta. Ranta compiled 302.55 points for a
fifth place finish while Sanders scored 324 points for a third place
finish.
Harvard capped the meet in fine style, recording a meet record
time to
win the 400 free relay. Guernsey, Rathgeber, Bill
Jones and Quinn
teamed for a time of 2:56.10 to seal the victory for Harvard.
Rathgeber also received two awards at the end of the meet. The senior
was presented with the Philip Moriarty Award, given to the meet
outstanding swimmer, which he shared with Yale’s Alex Righi, and the
Harold Ulen Award with is the career high point prize. Rathgeber won
three meets during the weekend, including the 200 breaststroke, the 200
IM and the 400 IM.
While the team season is over, Harvard has a number of individuals that
will be making appearances at the NCAA Championships, starting March 27
in Federal Way, Wash.