Swimming Jumps Ahead at EISL’s

After the first day of competition, the Harvard men’s swimming and diving team is well on its way in its quest for a remarkable seventh-straight Eastern championship.

The Crimson, ranked 29th nationally, is in first place with 465 points while Princeton trails with 421 points and Yale stands in third with 348 points after the first six of 21 events of the Eastern Intercollegiate Swim League Championships (EISL) at Blodgett Pool.

Harvard and Princeton dominated the top spots, beginning with the 200-yard freestyle relay, where the Tigers took first in 1:20.29 as the Crimson foursome’s 1:20.82 earned second. Harvard’s relay consisted of sophomore Brad Burns followed by sophomore Kemi George, junior Ryan Parmenter and freshman Nick Langan.

Sophomore John Cole took the top spot with a time of 4:21.13 in the 500-yard freestyle, an event in which he set a meet record of 4:20.87 last year. Princeton junior Carl Hessler was the closest competitor in 4:23.25. The Crimson also placed sophomore James Lawler at fifth in 4:27.94.

Harvard garnered first and second in the 200-yard individual memory, earning 60 points. Junior Dan Shevchik won with 1:48.38 while sophomore Ryan Smith followed in 1:49.93. Co-captain John Persinger’s 1:51.48 took fifth.

Junior Jesse Gage won first for the Tigers in the 50-yard freestyle, while senior Brett Cline of Navy followed. The Crimson earned third as Burns finished in 20.51.

Yale topped the board in the one-meter diving event as sophomore Josh Gallant brought in 32 points with a score of 316.30. Princeton freshman Kent DeMond’s 311.80 earned second while Harvard sophomore Enrique Roy placed third with 302.80. Roy did not compete in this meet last year due to a skull fracture he incurred during warm-ups.

The Tigers topped the meet record of 3:15.20 in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:15.03. Harvard had set the record in last year’s championships.

This year’s Harvard squad took second in 3:16:25. The Crimson crew was made up of Shevchik, sophomore Rassan Grant, senior Kyle Egan and Lawler.

Today and tomorrow’s preliminaries will begin at 11 a.m. while the finals are scheduled for 6 p.m.