PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Harvard Men's Swimming and Diving enjoyed a big day at the Ivy League Championships, making up major ground in the team standings to finish third-day action in second place at Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
The Crimson, which entered the day trailing Yale by 126 points and Princeton by 47, now sits one point behind the Tigers and owns a 10-point advantage on the Bulldogs. Princeton enters the final day of the meet with 847.50 points, with Harvard (846.50) and Yale (836.50) following close behind.
How It Happened
- The night session began with the 1,000 free and the trio of Shane Washart, Tristan Dalbey and Anders Aistars finished in the top-20. Washart came in ninth place, finishing in a season-best 9:04.11, with Dalbey coming in 16th (9:14.72) and Aistars ending in 19th (season-best 9:17.61).
- The Crimson picked up several team points in the 100 fly, with Sonny Wang taking second place in 45.53, which was the second-fastest time in school history. David Schmitt was the bronze winner with a time of 45.89. The sophomore swam a season-best 45.75 in the prelims. Aayush Deshpande, meanwhile, came in fifth place, completing the race in 46.43. Earlier in the day, the senior recorded the fifth-best time in program history with a prelim time of 46.06.
- First-year Richard Poplawski III registered a 400 IM time of 3:47.30 to finish in seventh place in the A-final. Poplawski's performance was the fifth-fastest in Harvard history. Classmate Eric Lee came in third place (3:50.40) after turning in the ninth-best time in school history during the preliminary heats (3:49.21).
- Harvard added to its team point total following the 200 free as David Greeley (personal-record 1:33.97 – 2nd at Harvard), Marre Gattnar (personal-best 1:34.64 – 5th at Harvard), Harris Durham (1:35.69) and Ben Littlejohn (1:35.97) finished 4-5-6-7 in the A-final. Dalbey and Aistars came in eighth in the B-final (1:38.02) and second in the C-final (1:37.20), respectively, to pick up additional points for the Crimson.
- Another first-year, Joshua Chen, qualified for the B-final of the 100 breast and finished in sixth place. Chen completed the prelim and the final with identical 53.66 times.
- The 100 back proved to be another big point-earning event for the Crimson. David Schmitt (46.54 – 4th at Harvard) and Anthony Rincon (46.55) finished third and fourth, respectively, with Evan Croley (7th, 46.89 – 7th at Harvard) and Deshpande (8th, 47.57) rounding out the A-final. Oliver Pilkinton, meanwhile, won the B-final in a personal-best 47.32.
- Raphael Tourette saved his best attempt for last on the 3-meter diving board to claim the consolation final with a score of 341.10. After going 58.50, 65.10, 36.00, 54.00, and 54.00 in his first five dives, Tourette finished with a score of 73.50 to vault atop the leaderboard. Jack Holland, meanwhile, came in eighth place (269.70).
- In the final event of the day, Harvard battled back to finish in third place in the 400 medley relay. The Crimson (Rincon, Chen, Wang, Greeley) found itself trailing a few teams at the start of the race, but rallied to take bronze with a time of 3:07.78 (6th at Harvard).
Team Standings (through 20 events)
1. Princeton – 847.50
2. Harvard – 846.50
3. Yale – 836.50
4. Brown – 643
5. Cornell – 616.50
6. Columbia – 544.50
7. Penn – 463.50
8. Dartmouth – 389
Up Next
Harvard will look to capture its eighth straight Ivy League title tomorrow, beginning with the prelims at 11 a.m. ET and the finals at 6 p.m. ET. Both sessions will air live on ESPN+.
