2017 Men’s Ivies Day 3: Farris Destroys Records, Evdokimov Three-Peats

2017 Ivy League Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships

• Wednesday, February 22 – Saturday, February 25
• Blodgett Pool, Harvard University, Boston MA (Eastern Standard Time)
• Prelims 11AM / Finals 6PM
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live on Ivy League Digital Network (Subscription Only)

Day Three

1000 Yard Freestyle

• Meet Record: 8:49.55 M 2015 Chris Swanson (Pennsylvania)
• Pool Record: 8:52.88 P 2014 Brian Hogan (Yale)

Yale junior Kei Hyogo, who posted the fastest time of the meet and broke the Blodgett Pool record in the 500 free while winning the B final on Thursday night, won his first Ivy title on Friday with a 8:49.45 in the 1000 free. Hyogo broke the pool, meet, and Yale school records with his swim. Second place went to Harvard sophomore Brennan Novak in 8:50.79, which was the best Crimson performance in history by more than 4 seconds.

400 Yard Individual Medley

• Meet Record: 3:43.53 M 2016 Mark Andrew (Pennsylvania)
• Pool Record: 3:46.90 P 2017 Mark Andrew (Pennsylvania)

Penn sophomore Mark Andrew won his second consecutive 400 IM title; in doing so he lowered his own meet, pool, and school records to 3:43.28. His Penn classmate Thomas Dillinger was runner-up in 3:47.59, while Columbia sophomore Shane Brett came to the wall third in 3:48.21, just out-touching Harvard senior Christian Carbone (3:49.20).

100 Yard Butterfly

• Meet Record: 45.12 M 2009 Doug Lennox (Princeton)
• Pool Record: 46.13 P 2014 Thomas Glenn (Brown)

The top three finishers in the 100 fly were all seasoned seniors. Harvard ‘s Max Yakubovich won his second 100 fly title in as many years, stopping the clock in 46.54. Columbia senior Terry Li came in second with 46.88; Penn’s James Jameson went 46.95 for third.

200 Yard Freestyle

• Meet Record: 1:32.71 M 2017 Dean Farris (Harvard)
• Pool Record: 1:32.71 P 2017 Dean Farris (Harvard)

In by far the most exciting race of the night, Harvard freshman Dean Farris obliterated the new meet, pool, and school records he had just set in prelims when he unleashed a NCAA “A” cut of 1:32.71 in the morning session. In finals, he dropped another 1.15 seconds to become the fastest 200 freestyler in the NCAA this season. Farris already had a half body-length lead on the field by the first wall, turning at 21.43. At the halfway mark he extended his lead and flipped at 44.33. Only Yale sophomore Adrian Lin was anywhere near him, and he was just over a body length back at 45.73. Farris threw out an unbelievable 23.33 on his third 50, then held on with 23.90 to stop the clock at 1:31.56. No other swimmer has cracked 1:32 so far this year. Moreover, Farris is now the sixth-fastest performer of all time in the 200 yard free. (Watch the race here.)

Lost in all the (well-deserved) excitement about Farris’ race was the fact that Yale’s Lin also broke Rowdy Gaines’ 1980 pool record and Doug Lennox’ 2009 meet record with his second-place finish of 1:34.25. Lin took down the Yale school record with his swim.

One more interesting aspect to the 200 free final was the tie for third place between Harvard senior Aly Abdel Khalik and Columbia junior Michal Zyla. Not only did they come in together at 1:36.24, but from the 100 on, they traded stroke for stroke and were essentially synchronized with almost identical splits.

100 Yard Breaststroke

• Meet Record: 52.46 M 2016 Alex Evdokimov (Cornell)
• Pool Record: 53.52 P 2014 Nejc Zupan (Dartmouth)

For the third year in a row, Cornell junior Alex Evdokimov ruled the pool in the 100 breast. This time he lowered his own championship record and erased Dartmouth’s Nejc Zupan from the Blodgett Pool record books. Evdokimov was out first, but where he really shines is over the second half, where he outsplit Harvard junior Shane McNamara by nearly half a second to win with 52.13. McNamara got to the wall in 52.76, the only other competitor to break 53 seconds. Third place went to Penn’s Colin McHugh with 53.98, his second lifetime sub-54.

100 Yard Backstroke

• Meet Record: 45.74 M 2017 Dean Farris (Harvard)
• Pool Record: 45.74 P 2017 Dean Farris (Harvard)

Less than a half hour after blasting the sixth-fastest 200 free in history, Harvard freshman Farris tore through the competition in the 100 back as well. He won by nearly two body lengths with a new meet, pool, and school record of 45.38, while teammates Jack Manchester (47.08) and Yakubovich (47.19) followed in second and third, respectively. Cornell freshman Dylan Curtis’ 47.63 kept the Crimson from sweeping the top four spots in the event.

400 Yard Medley Relay

• Meet Record: 3:09.20 M 2016 Princeton
• Pool Record: 3:10.42 P 2014 Harvard

Harvard eviscerated the meet and pool records in the 400 medley relay. There was little question that they would win easily, given their relay featured either the winner or runner-up in each of the 100 stroke events that had just taken place. Add to that a 41.46 anchor from Farris and not only did the Crimson beat everyone past and present, but they took home an NCAA “A” cut in the process. Manchester led off with 47.19. He handed off to McNamara, who went 52.72. Yakubovich unleashed an unholy 45.61, and Farris followed with his own ball of fire, going 41.46 on the end.

Brown, Columbia, and Penn all broke their respective school records in the 400 medley relay. Penn was runner-up to Harvard with 3:11.80; Cornell was third in 3:12.34.

Standings after Day Three:

1. Harvard University 1122
2. University of Pennsylvania 906
3. Columbia University 778
4. Yale University 743.5
5. Cornell University 575.5
6. Brown University 553
7. Dartmouth College 376