Season Preview: No. 25
Men's Swimming and Diving Looks for Another Big Year in 2008-09
Courtesy: Harvard Athletic Communications
Release: 11/03/2008
Courtesy: DSPics.com
The 2008-09 Crimson
The
Harvard men’s swimming and diving team returns a solid core of
upperclassmen and will be looking for another strong finish in the
Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL), after capturing its
20th conference title last winter. The Crimson finished the 2007-08
season ranked 22nd in the CollegeSwimming.com poll after posting a
perfect 9-0 meet record.Harvard also captured the ECAC
Championship and placed 31st at the NCAA championships. The Crimson
enters this season ranked No. 22 in the first College Swimming Coaches
Association of America (CSCAA) national poll.
The Crimson will look to
defend nine individual titles and all five relay events at the EISL
meet.While
Harvard graduated some key members from last year’s squad, the
returning swimmers and divers gained valuable experience to build upon
for this upcoming season as Harvard looks to continue its success.
“The goals are always the
same for our team,” said head coach Tim
Murphy.“We had three swimmers at last year’s NCAA
meet, so we will hopefully add to that.Overall, this is
a different team than we had last year, so we need to build to get back
into contention.”
Harvard returns three
swimmers that competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, including senior
co-captain David Guernsey, senior Bill
Jones and junior Alex
Meyer.Guernsey, a
five-time EISL champion, was 35th in the 100 free with a time of 50.18,
and clocked in the 50 free in 23.19.Meyer, meanwhile,
finished 34th in the 1500 freestyle in 15:45.69 and Jones touched the
wall in 54.70 in the 100 butterfly race.
Jones,
who has captured seven EISL titles during his career, also competed at
the NCAA Championships and took 23rd in the 100 butterfly and 25th in
the 200 butterfly with a times of 47.35 and 1:46.12, respectively.Senior co-captain Eric
Lynch,
a CollegeSwimming.com All-American last season and four-time EISL
champion, also made a name for himself at nationals, placing 18th in
the 1650 freestyle in 15:11.36 and swam the 500 freestyle in 4:24.03.
“Our two captains, David
Guernsey and Eric
Lynch, will provide leadership for the upcoming year,” said Murphy,
who owns an 83-6 record in his 10 seasons at Harvard.“The
dynamics of our team have changed, so we need our returning swimmers
and some new faces to fill some of the voids we have.”
In the distance events,
the Crimson will look to returning juniors and sophomores to step up
and earn critical victories.Junior Tommy
Gray won the 200 freestyle in 1:41.49 at the ECAC Championships,
while classmate Mason
Brunnick was a member of Harvard’s 800 free relay that won the EISL
meet with a time of 6:32.33.Sophomore Jordan
Diekema
enters this season as a reigning EISL individual champion in the 200
backstroke (1:46.38) and will also look to defend Crimson titles in the
200 and 400 medley relays.
Sophomore Blake
Lewkowitz
had a strong finish in the 1000 freestyle at the EISL meet, taking
seventh, and will look to continue to improve during his second season.Another second-year swimmer, Douwe
Yntema, will also look to contribute mightily after a 12th-place
finish in the 1650 at the EISL Championship.
In
the sprints, sophomores Will Heyburn, who was on Harvard’s 200 free
relay winning team last winter and Eric Taylor, a fifth-place finisher
in the 100 free at the ECAC Championships, will look to use the
valuable experience from last year and continue to improve their times.
Sophomore Justin
Davidson and senior Dan
Jones are the returners that will anchor the individual medley
events.Jones, a two-time All-Ivy Leaguer, hit an NCAA
“B” provisional mark in the 200 fly at last year’s HYP Meet.Davidson
was a first-team All-Ivy selection after winning the 100 breaststroke
in 56.29 at the EISL meet and won the 200 breaststroke at the HYP meet
with a time of 2:04.56.
Murphy added the nation’s 22nd best
incoming freshman class, which includes nine swimmers and two divers,
to the squad and believes that the newcomers will see plenty of action
in year one.
“The freshmen are a group
that can help us immediately and will need to contribute as the year
goes on,” Murphy said.“They can have an impact on the
program and will have the opportunity to step up for us from day one.”
Sophomore Zac
Ranta
returns as the leader of the men’s diving squad this year. He finished
his freshman campaign in fifth place in the 3-meter at the Eastern
Championships.Ranta is also one of the top returning
divers in the league, and continues to improve steadily. Senior Tom
Hehir is also a returning Eastern scorer, and along with classmate Drew
Davis.Henry
Winslow and Joe
Corning are returning for their sophomore seasons, and are joined
by two strong freshmen, Taylor Nickel and Andy Krantz.
“This
is one of the larger squads we’ve had in recent years, and depth will
be a key factor this season,” said head diving coach Keith
Miller, who is entering his 17th season with the Crimson.
The Harvard diving team
welcomes a new volunteer assistant coach Stacie Powell to the staff.Powell, a native of Great Britian, is
studying for the year at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.She competed in the finals in two events
at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Harvard will open its
season Nov. 15 in a tri-meet against Cornell and Dartmouth
at Blodgett Pool. Last year, Harvard won its lone meet at home (Brown)
and captured the EISL Championship at home. Other meets at Blodgett
this winter include Columbia (Nov. 21),
Navy (Jan. 3), Penn (Jan. 10), Brown (Jan. 24) and Yale and Princeton
(Jan. 31-Feb. 1). Harvard will also host the ECAC Championships Feb.
27-March 1 at Blodgett. This season's EISL meet is scheduled for March
5-7 at Princeton.