Courtesy: DSPics.com Meyer established a new meet record in the 1000 freestyle.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The 20th-ranked Crimson men's swimming and diving team broke four meet records and posted 10 NCAA 'B' qualifying times to remain in second place after two days at the 2009 Ivy League Championships, hosted by Princeton.  Harvard collected 516.5 points Friday to bring its two-day total to 876.5.

The host Tigers sit in first place with 1,110.5 points, while Cornell (719) and Yale (685.5) are third and fourth, respectively.  Columbia stands fifth with 572.5, followed by Penn (551.5), Brown (439.5) and Dartmouth (294). 

Harvard opened Friday evening's finals in a big way, establishing a new meet record in the 200 medley relay.  The group of Jordan Diekema, Simone Melillo, Bill Jones and David Guernsey won the Crimson's first race of the weekend and became the squad's All-Ivy first-team selections of the year after swimming a meet-best mark and NCAA 'B" cut of 1:27.61.  These four current Crimson swimmers surpassed the previous record of 1:27.67 set by Harvard in 2006 by Jones, Pat Quinn '08, Geoff Rathgeber '08 and David Cromwell '06.  The win also delivered the Crimson 64 valuable team points.

Harvard continued its upsurge in points by finishing 1-2-3 in the 1000 freestyle, led by a record-breaking performance by Alex Meyer.  Meyer established a new meet record by touching the wall in 8:57.28.  Former Crimson swimmer John Cole '05 owned the previous mark of 8:58.56.  Eric Lynch placed second in 8:59.82, while Blake Lewkowitz came in third in 9:01.46.  Tommy Gray was not far behind as he grabbed eighth in 9:09.70.  This foursome of swimmers gave Harvard an impressive 109 points, pushing the team closer to first-place Princeton. 

In the 100 butterfly, Bill Jones surpassed the previous pool and Ivy League records, as he took second in the event in 46.12.  The previous meet and Ivy record was 46.31.  Dan Jones posted the Crimson's second 'B' cut of the race, as he swam fourth in 47.47. Harvard earned another 56 points in the evening's final event, the 800 freestyle relay, as the Crimson broke its fourth meet record on the day.  The Crimson quartet of Douwe Yntema, Guernsey, Lynch and Bill Jones finished second with a collective mark of 6:30.96.  The Tigers claimed the event, winning in a new Ivy record of 6:24.75. 

In the 400 IM, Yntema achieved third, as he swam the event in an NCAA 'B' time of 3:50.33.  The Crimson also claimed third in the 200 freestyle, as Guernsey swam another 'B' cut, grabbing the wall in 1:36.72.  Melillo followed by a sixth-place performance in the finals of the 100 breaststroke, as he cruised in with a mark of 55.04. Diekema posted yet another 'B' time, finishing third in the 100 backstroke in 48.25.  Derick Chui (50.01) and Robert Newell (50.15) joined Diekema in the 'A' final, placing sixth and eighth, respectively.   

During the preliminary rounds earlier in the day, Yntema swam a 'B' time in the 400 IM, finishing the race in 3:52.32.  Other 'B' cuts during the preliminaries included Bill and Dan Jones in the 100 butterfly, as the brothers completed the event in times of 47.26 and 47.49, respectively. 

The third and final day of competition at the Ivy League Championships will begin Saturday with preliminaries at 11 a.m., followed by the finals at 6 p.m.  Saturday's events include the 1650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, three-meter diving and 400 freestyle relay.

Courtesy: DSPics.com Melillo helped Harvard surpass the meet record in the 400 medley relay.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The 20th-ranked Harvard men's swimming and diving team broke two meet records and swam six NCAA 'B' qualifying times en route to a second-place finish at Day 1 of the 2009 Ivy League Championships, hosted by Princeton.  The Crimson sits in second place with 360 points, trailing only the first-place Tigers (539).

In the finals of the 500 freestyle, senior co-captain Eric Lynch collected 27 team points as he broke the meet record in the event, formerly held by John Cole '05.  Lynch touched the wall in 4:19.91 to take third place in the race behind Princeton's Travis McNamara (4:18.04) and Cornell's Wes Newman.  Lynch's mark was also an NCAA 'B' cut and broke the previous DeNunzio Pool record.  Junior Alex Meyer finished fifth in another "B" time, as he completed the race in 4:22.82.  Sophomore Blake Lewkowitz placed sixth in the event, coming in at 4:25.33.  All in all, the team piled up 103 points in the event, its largest score of any one event Thursday. 

Earlier in the day, this trio of Harvard swimmers had posted 'B' times in the preliminaries of the 500 free.  Lynch broke the previous pool record, as he recorded a time of 41.27.  Meyer and Lewkowtiz had marks of 4:22.25 and 4:22.44, respectively.  

Harvard broke its second meet record in the final event of the evening, as the 400 medley relay team took second in 3:12.30 for another 'B' mark.  Sophomore Jordan Diekema, junior Simone Melillo, senior Bill Jones and senior co-captain David Guernsey earned 56 points to cap the scoring for the Crimson on Day 1. 

In the 50 freestyle, Guernsey just missed an NCAA 'B' cut, as he cruised to a finish in 20.04, putting him fifth in the race.  Douwe Yntema was the Crimson's top finisher in the 200 IM, as the sophomore swimmer made it to the wall in eighth in 1:50.07. Freshman Robert Newell claimed the 'B' final in 1:49.04.

The foursome of sophomores Will Heyburn, Diekema and Yntema and freshman Nicholas Tan opened Thursday's finals by placing seventh in the 200 free relay with a collective mark of 1:22.43, good for 46 team points.  In the only diving event of the day, Zac Ranta amassed a score of 283.15 for ninth in the one-meter board.

Cornell stands third at Day 1 with 355 points, followed by Yale (269) and Penn (214.5).  Columbia ranks sixth with 206 points, while Brown (203.5) and Dartmouth (123) are seventh and eighth, respectively. 

The Ivy League Championships will continue Friday with preliminaries at 11 a.m.  Friday's finals will begin at 6 p.m.