Day
2-
David
Cromwell
set a new Blodgett Pool record in the 200-yard backstroke and was one
of four Harvard swimmers to contribute to two wins as the Crimson took
six of the nine events on the final day of the annual HYP meet to
defeat Princeton, 193-160, and Yale, 248-105. Princeton beat Yale,
254-109, to earn a split. It was the Crimson's second straight sweep of
the meet and
gives Harvard the chance to clinch a share of the Eastern
Intercollegiate Swimming League dual meet title. If Harvard (6-1, 5-1
EISL) defeats Penn (8-6, 2-5 EISL) next Saturday at home, a meet
between Columbia (7-2, 5-1 EISL) and Princeton (5-3, 4-1 EISL) will
decide who ties the Crimson for the dual championship."It was a great
win," said Cromwell. "It's the first really big
league meet for a lot of our guys, and little matters up until this
point unless you perform here."
"We're really happy, but in terms of the rest of the season, we
have three and a half big weeks left that we're really excited about
too," he added. Sophomores Geoff
Rathgeber and Pat
Quinn and freshman Bill
Jones each helped Harvard to two wins. Quinn added a crucial
second-place finish, while Danil
Rybalko and Eric
Lynch added their second individual wins of the weekend.
"Our ability to win races made the
difference," said Cromwell,
co-captain of a team that claimed victory in 14 of the weekend's 19
events, but had to fight hard to hold off a deep Princeton team that
consistently bunched its finishers right behind the Crimson winners to
rack up points and stay close. "This meets all about the rivalry, and
no matter what kind of layoff you've had or how hard you've been
working, you have to swim fast."
Cromwell's time of 1:44.93 in the 200 back
earned him a coveted spot on the Blodgett Pool record board, topping
Brown's Charles Barnes' 1999 time of 1:45.30. It came after the senior
opened the day by swimming the first leg of the 200 medley relay.
Rathgeber, Jones and Quinn finished out the race as Harvard won in an
NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:29.00. Princeton's Meir Hasbani
recorded his second win of the meet in
the 400 individual medley, the second event of Saturday's session.
Rathgeber placed second in a U.S. Senior Nationals qualifying time of
3:54.52. It was another race that Harvard didn't win that Cromwell
called the meets pivotal event. Yale's Alex Righi won the 100 free,
but Quinn placed second in 45.20 to edge Princeton's top swimmer and
gain nine valuable points against the Tigers. Lynch and Rybalko
completed their weekend sweeps of the
distance and diving events, respectively. Lynch took the 500 free in
4:29.62, while Rybalko won the three-meter diving with 313.35 points.
Sophomore Sam
Wollner was second to Lynch in the 500 free, and Jones placed
second in the 100 fly. Rathgeber won the final individual event, the
200 breaststroke,
in 2:02.89, hitting another Senior Nationals cut and giving Harvard
some breathing room heading into the final relay, the 400 free. The
Crimson team of Quinn, freshman David
Guernsey, Jones and senior Mark
Knepley took care of business in that race in 3:01.82, a Nationals
qualifying mark. Harvard now leads the all-time series with Princeton,
35-32, and has won 14 straight meets against Yale.
Coming Attractions
The Crimson wraps up its dual meet schedule Feb. 11 when it hosts Penn
at noon.
ECAC Championships at the U of Pittsburgh Feb 24-26
EISL Championships at East Meadow Long Island March 2-4.
NCAAs at Georgia Tech March 23-25