Harvard Opens Season by Hosting Texas A&M Friday, Faces Cornell and Dartmouth Saturday in Ithaca
Pictured: Senior Mason Brunnick and the Crimson open the
2009-10 season by hosting Texas A&M at Blodgett Pool.
Photo courtesy: David Silverman Photography
The Particulars
Harvard plays host to Texas A&M Friday morning at Blodgett
Pool, before opening the Ivy League portion of its schedule
Saturday against Cornell and Dartmouth in Ithaca, N.Y.
Out of the Blocks
Harvard begins the season with a home meet today against Texas
A&M and will begin Ivy League duel meets tomorrow. Following
today’s meet, the Crimson will travel to Ithaca, N.Y. to
compete in dual meets against Cornell and Dartmouth Saturday.
Harvard will remain on the road as it takes on Columbia in yet
another Ivy League dual meet, Nov. 20.
Order of Events
1. 400 medley relay
2. 1000 freestyle
3. 200 freestyle
4. 50 freestyle
5. 200 IM
6. 1M diving
7. 200 butterfly
8. 100 freestyle
9. 200 backstroke
10. 500 freestyle
11. 3M diving
12. 200 breaststroke
13. 400 freestyle relay
Last Time Out
Harvard closed out the 2008-09 campaign by taking second at the
Ivy League Championships. The Crimson finished the championships
with 1,311.5 points. Alex Meyer earned All-Ivy in two events and
Bill Jones ’09 earned three second-team nods.
Jones and Meyer represented Harvard at the NCAA Swimming and Diving
Championships. Jones placed 28th in the 100 fly, while Meyer was
25th in the 1,650 free and 44th in the 500 free. Zac Ranta placed
11th in the three-meter event at the NCAA Zone ‘A’
Diving Championships.
Scouting the Aggies
Texas A&M recently competed at the Southwest Collegiate Plunge
in Mansfield, Texas. The Aggies placed second in the overall team
standings. Balazs Makany won the 200-yard freestyle, the
team’s only individual win at the two-day event. Texas
A&M also had four runner-up finishes: the 200-meter relay,
200-yard backstroke, 100-yard back and 400-meter freestyle
relay.
Senior Admirals
The Crimson is led by a pair of senior captains, Tommy Gray and
Alex Meyer. Gray, a Houston, Texas native, swims in the middle and
distance freestyle events. Meyer is a distance swimmer hailing from
Ithaca, N.Y. Meyer competed in the 25k open-water swim at the
Federation Internationale De Natation (FINA) World Championships in
Rome, July 25.
Looking to Make a Splash
The 2009-10 edition of the Harvard men’s swimming and diving
team welcomes eight freshmen. The class of 2013 is well-rounded in
the pool with the eight rookies able to compete in seven different
events. Five of the newcomers are freestyle swimmers while three
swim the butterfly. Two will compete in the backstroke and a rookie
will compete in the individual medley, breaststroke, distance free
and diving.
Hometown Melting Pot
The 34 members of the Harvard men’s swimming and diving
squad hail from 21 different states and three countries.
Connecticut, Maryland and Texas are well represented with three
swimmers calling those states home. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
Tennessee and England each have two swimmers on this year’s
roster. The rest of the roster hails from 15 states and two
countries.
Up Next for the Crimson
Harvard travels to Ithaca, N.Y., Nov. 14, to take on Ivy League
opponents Cornell and Dartmouth in a tri-meet beginning at 1 p.m.
The Crimson will then swim against Columbia on the road Nov. 20.
About Cornell
The Big Red first meet will be the tri-meet with Dartmouth and
Harvard. Cornell finished the 2008-09 season with an overall record
of 6-4 and a 4-3 mark in the Ivy League. The Big Red placed third
at the Ivy League Championships last year. Cornell boasts only two
seniors to go along with six juniors, nine sophomores and seven
freshmen.
About Dartmouth
The Big Green's first meet will be the tri-meet with Cornell and
Harvard. This year's Big Green squad has two seniors on the roster
as well as six juniors, 14 sophomores and 11 rookies. Seniors Scott
Sorenson, Cary Stathopoulos and junior Marco Chu are the captains
for this year's Dartmouth men's swimming and diving team.
