PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Harvard men's swimming and diving team successfully defended its Ivy League Championships title, winning for the sixth straight time after earning 1,545 points to finish ahead of second-place Princeton (1,433.50).
 
Over the four-day event, the Crimson outlasted Princeton and the rest of its Ivy counterparts. Yale took third place (1,052) and was followed by Columbia (975.50), Brown (887), Penn (879), Cornell (695) and Dartmouth (373).
 
By winning the 2023 conference crown, Harvard became the first school in league history to win six straight outright Ivy titles. It also marked the fifth time a school has won at least six consecutive league trophies (shared/outright). The other instances include Princeton (9 from 1984-92), Yale (8 from 1963-70), Harvard (7 from 1978-84) and Harvard (6 from 1996-2001).
 
Kevin Tyrell, The Ulen-Brooks Endowed Coach for Harvard Men's Swimming & Diving, meanwhile, has guided the Crimson to seven Ivy League championships. In addition to his current streak of six (2017-23; 2021 canceled due to global pandemic), Harvard won the crown in 2014.

Harvard Highlights

• Will Grant recorded the first Ivy individual title of the night when he captured the 200 back (1:41.43) for the second straight season, just ahead of teammate Anthony Rincon (1:42.29). During the prelims, Rincon set a pool record with a time of 1:41.81. Then just minutes later, Grant one-upped him with a 1:41.14.
• The Crimson was victorious in the final event of the night, the 400 free relay, when Ryan Linnihan, Umitcan Gures, David Greeley and Marcus Holmquist finished ahead of the pack in 2:51.23. The quartet's performance set a new facility record.
• Harvard placed three swimmers in the top five of the 100 free A-final. Holmquist was the event's runner-up with a personal-best time of 42.96. Greeley and Linnihan each finished in 43.66 to tie for fourth place. Gures came in eighth at 44.68.
• Denny Gulia-Janovski finished in third place on the 3-meter diving board, earning a career-best 358.85 points. Luke Foster came in eighth in the A-final, with Adam Wesson (326.30) and Nick Nocita (304.65) registering third- and fifth-place efforts in the B-final.
• Cole Kuster opened the night for Harvard by finishing in fourth place in the 1,650 free, logging a time of 15:04.91. Shane Washart, meanwhile, came in fifth (15:05.96). Other point-earners for the Crimson were Simon Lamar (7^th, 15:08.87), Noah Brune (10^th, 15:17.09) and Harris Durham (15^th, 15:37.51). Each performance was a season best.
• In the 200 fly, the Crimson was led by Ben Littlejohn, who posted the fourth-fastest time in the A-final (1:44.02). Aayush Deshpande finished just behind Littlejohn, coming in at 1:44.98 (6^th). In the B-final, Brune completed the event in 1:48.96, which was good for seventh.
• Jared Simpson was Harvard's top performer in the 200 breast, finishing in seventh place with a mark of 1:56.74. Quinn Harron (1:57.47) and Saavan Shah (1:59.85), meanwhile, came in fourth and eighth place, respectively, in the B-final.

Up Next

Harvard's qualifying divers will compete at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships in Morgantown, West Virginia. The competition will run from March 6-8.