MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Harvard University men's swimming and diving set a new program record with an NCAA A cut time in the 400-yard freestyle relay, and eight Crimson swimmers posted individual NCAA B cut times on the day as Harvard completed competition at the 2021 Minnesota Invitational on Saturday at the University of Minnesota's Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
Competing against No. 1 Texas, No. 3 California, No. 4 Michigan, No. 17 Wisconsin, Arizona, and Minnesota on the fourth and final day of the invite, the 400 free relay of senior
Mahlon Reihman, senior
Dean Farris, sophomore
Marcus Holmquist, and senior
Raphael Marcoux set the school record with a 2:49.85, beating the previous school record (2:49.88) by 0.03 seconds.
The Crimson's NCAA B cut performers from Saturday included Farris and Reihman in the 100 free, senior
Jake Johnson, junior
Umitcan Gures, and first-year
Aayush Deshpande all in the 100 free, first-years
Shane Washart and
Arik Katz both in the 1,650 free, and sophomore
Will Grant in the 200 back.
For the weekend, Farris contributed to two NCAA A cut relays (400 free, 200 free), an NCAA B cut relay (200 medley), and three individual NCAA B cuts (100 free, 100 fly, 50 free). Gures was a part of the 200 free relay A cut and 200 medley relay B cut alongside three NCAA B cut individual times (200 fly, 100 fly, 50 free) and an event win in the 100 fly. Marcoux swam in the NCAA A cut relays (400 free, 200 free) as well as the NCAA B cut 200 medley relay and an individual NCAA B cut in the 50 free.
Reihman competed with the NCAA A cut relays (400 free, 200 free) and added an individual NCAA B cut in the 100 free. Johnson (200 fly, 100 fly, 200 IM), Grant (200 back, 100 back), and junior
Jared Simpson (100 breast, 200 medley relay) all took part in multiple NCAA B cut swims.
Harvard Highlights
- Harvard's 400-yard freestyle A relay of senior Mahlon Reihman, senior Dean Farris, sophomore Marcus Holmquist, and senior Raphael Marcoux set the school record with an NCAA A cut time of 2:49.85. The quartet beat the previous school record (2:49.88) by 0.03 seconds, while also surpassing the NCAA qualifying time of 2:50.99.
- In the 100-yard freestyle, seniors Dean Farris and Mahlon Reihman each posted NCAA B cut times in both the finals and prelims. In the finals, Farris clocked a 42.34 for fourth place after a 42.57 in prelims. Reihman notched a 43.48 in prelims prior to a 43.62 in the finals. Senior Raphael Marcoux swam a 43.83 in prelims, coming within 0.03 of the NCAA B standard of 43.80, before a 43.89 in the finals.
- Senior Jake Johnson compiled NCAA B cut times in both the prelims and finals of the 200-yard butterfly, junior Umitcan Gures charted an NCAA B cut time in the prelims, and first-year Aayush Deshpande made an NCAA B cut in the finals.
- In the 200 fly, Johnson swam a 1:42.99 in the finals for fifth place after a 1:43.58 in the prelims. Gures recorded a 1:46.57 in the prelims – surpassing the NCAA B standard time of 1:46.69 – before a 1:47.07 in the finals, and Desphande logged a 1:46.63 in the finals, beating the NCAA B mark by 0.06 seconds.
- In the 1,650-yard freestyle, first-years Shane Washart and Arik Katz tallied NCAA B cut times of 15:07.59 and 15:10.62 respectively, besting the NCAA B standard of 15:26.19.
- Sophomore Will Grant registered NCAA B cut times in both the finals (1:43.07) and prelims (1:43.10) of the 200-yard backstroke, placing seventh in the finals as he eclipsed the NCAA B standard time of 1:45.04. Earlier in the weekend, he also posted an NCAA B cut in the 100 back.
- Junior Jared Simpson paced Harvard in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 1:58.97 in the finals, coming within 0.54 seconds of the NCAA B standard of 1:58.43.
- In platform diving, sophomore Luke Foster tallied a 275.25 for fourth place as the Crimson competed in the event for the first time this season.
Next Up
Following the semester break, Harvard returns to competition with a dual meet at Stanford with diving events on Jan. 12 and swimming events on Jan. 14.
