Tommy Gray won the 1,650-yard freestyle to pace Harvard to the ECAC title

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Paced by Tommy Gray's win in the 1,650-yard freestyle, Harvard's men's swimming and diving team completed a wire-to-wire win by taking the ECAC Open Championship Sunday afternoon at Blodgett Pool.

While Gray's win was Harvard's only event win in the 20-event meet, the Crimson's depth proved to be the difference as Harvard consistently was able to place multiple swimmers in the championship finals.

Harvard won the meet with 513 points to finish well ahead of second-place Marist, which scored 458.5 points. Columbia was third with 387.5 points, followed by Johns Hopkins (378), Rider (369), Binghamton (366), Yale (358), Penn (236.5), Loyola (159) and Iona (114.5) to round out the top 10. Eighteen schools scored points in the three-day event.

Gray, who had taken second in the 500 freestyle in Friday's opening day of competition, cruised to a six-second win the 1,650 as he clocked 15:59.58. Gray was one of three Crimson swimmers in the top eight as Tim Parent took sixth and Kevin Koslosky was eighth.

Freshman Michael Dunn reached the championship final of the 200 backstroke and delivered a third-place finish, while senior Patrick Morrissey followed with a sixth-place effort in the 100 freestyle.

Senior Nick Cirella took third in the 200 breaststroke, while Harvard had two of the top four finishers in the 200 butterfly. Freshman Rick McKellar touched in second place, while first-year man Robert Lynch was fourth.

The Crimson took ninth in the closing 400 freestyle relay, but Harvard's lead proved to be insurmountable.

Harvard will look for back-to-back championships next weekend as the Crimson competes in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championships at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool.