2015 Ivy League Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships
- Dates: Thursday, February 26 – Saturday, February 28, 2015; prelims 11am, finals 6pm
- Location: DeNunzio Pool, Princeton, New Jersey (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Harvard (results)
- Live Results: Available
- Live Video: Available
- Championship Central
Two things are clear after a day and a half at the 2015 Ivy League men’s championship: this year’s meet is fast, and Princeton wants to win at home. Harvard had a far stronger Day Two prelims, but the top performing team of the day was Columbia, who loaded up A, B and C finals across the board.
| Ivy League | Up | Mid | Down |
| Brown | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Columbia | 6 | 7 | 5 |
| Cornell | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Dartmouth | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Harvard | 9 | 5 | 2 |
| Penn | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| Princeton | 10 | 7 | 1 |
| Yale | 6 | 8 | 3 |
400 Individual Medley
Princeton only entered two swimmers in the 400 IM but when you’ve got Sam Smiddy and Corey Okubo, that’s all you need. Smiddy broke the pool record with his prelims swim of 3:45.85. Okubo came to the wall second, just .03 behind. Christian Yeager of Harvard posted a 3:48.15 in the first heat to qualify third. Kei Hyogo (3:49.24) of Yale edged Penn’s Grant Proctor (3:49.55) for the fourth spot; Proctor had the seventh-fastest time. Both Harvard’s Christian Carbone and Columbia’s Kevin Quinn were fifth with 3:49.34. Columbia’s Jae Park also made the championship final with his 3:51.75 morning swim.
100 Butterfly
Columbia dominated the 100 fly, getting 3 into the A final, 1 in the B, and 2 in the C. The Lions’ David Jakl smoked a 46.27 for a new school record and the top qualifying time. Teammates Terry Li (47.80) and Alex Ngan (47.92) qualified sixth and seventh, respectively. Max Yakubovich of Harvard had the second-fastest time of the morning with 47.13. His teammate Steven Tan came in fifth with 47.65. Princeton’s Zach Buerger went 47.38 for third, Mike Lazris of Yale was fourth with 47.55, and Penn’s Michael Wen tied Ngan’s 47.92 for seventh.
This was one of the events we were keeping our eye on. Jakl has been poised near the top of both the 100 and 200 fly for 3 years; he is motivated to make the most of his last Ivy championships, as we saw from his morning swim, nearly a second faster than Yakubovich’s.
200 Freestyle
Princeton’s Teo D’Alessandro dropped an impressive 1:35.53B in prelims to post the top qualifying time in the 200 free. Penn’s Eric Schultz went a career-best 1:35.67 to qualify second, just ahead of Yale’s Rob Harder (1:36.03). Sandy Bole of Princeton (1:36.33), Aly Abdel Khalik (1:36.44) and Spenser Goodman (1:36.52) from Harvard, David Paulk of Princeton (1:36.62), and Penn’s Dillon McHugh (1:36.75) rounded out the top eight.
This was Harvard’s second-strongest event of the meet last year with 147 points, twice as many as their nearest opponent. This year the Crimson still have the potential to score the most points, but the margin has been greatly reduced by Princeton’s 3/1/1.
100 Breaststroke
Cornell freshman Alex Evdokimov went a lifetime-best 53.44, and his first foray into sub-54 territory, to earn the right to swim in lane four in tonight’s finals of the 100 breast. Jack Pohlmann of Princeton qualified second with 53.59, just ahead of Cole Hurwitz of Penn’s 53.69. Harvard’s Shane McNamara went 53.71 for the fourth-fastest time, while Byron Sanborn of Princeton (53.83), Kyle Yu from Penn (54.28), Yale’s Ronald Tsui (54.49) and Andrew Heymann (54.50) made up the rest of the A final.
100 Backstroke
Michael Strand of Princeton scored the top time of the morning, and the only sub-47, with his 46.70. Jakl of Columbia had a strong double with the second-fastest 100 back (47.21) after the leading 100 fly time. Cornell’s Dylan Sali (47.24) qualified third, followed by James Verhagen of Dartmouth (47.38), Jack Manchester of Harvard (47.61), Alex Schultz of Yale (47.93), Princeton’s Connor Maher (47.98), and Harvard’s Steven Tan (48.06).
3-Meter Diving
After winning on the 1-meter board last night, Harvard’s Mike Mosca was the top qualifier in 3-meter diving with 3478.80 points. Columbia’s Jayden Pantel was second with 354.40. Princeton’s Nathan Makarewicz and Michael Manhard qualified third and fourth with 331.65 and 321.20 points, respectively. Harvard got two more top-eight divers in addition to Mosca: Bobby Ross (316.05) and David Pfeifer (306.60). Johnathon Schlafer of Brown (302.55) and Brett Gillis of Dartmouth rounded out the championship final.
Tonight there will be two more relays (200 medley and 800 free) and the 1000 free.