Farris Splits 41.8, Houck Blasts 14:47 Mile as Harvard Tops HYP Meet

HARVARD VS. YALE VS. PRINCETON

• Results
• Hosted by Harvard
• Friday, February 2nd – Saturday, February 3rd
• 25 Yards
• Dual Meet Format

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

• Harvard 250, Princeton 103
• Harvard 242, Yale 111
• Yale 177, Princeton 176

The annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton tri-meet took place this weekend, with the Harvard men recording wins over both teams at home. The Yale men also came home with a win, taking their first victory over Princeton in 16 years. The thrilling battle saw Yale come up ahead of the Tigers by just a single point.

Ivy League champ Dean Farris impressed for the Harvard men, winning 3 events individually. Farris dominated the 200 free on day 1, winning in a quick 1:33.30. His second individual win on day 1 came in the 100 back, where he put up a 47.21. Farris was significantly faster on the leadoff backstroke leg of the 400 medley relay, however, putting up a 46.18 split. Individually on day 2, he won the 100 free in 42.93 to top the field by a full second. He closed out his schedule with a 41.81 anchor leg on the 400 free relay.

Teammate Brennan Novak put up a highlight swim with his Pool Record in the 500 free. Novak raced to a 4:16.56, missing his lifetime best by just .05 and clearing the former Pool Record by just over a tenth. Fellow Harvard distance ace Logan Houck nearly broke a Pool Record himself in the 1650 free. Houck dominated the field, knocking over 10 seconds off his best time with a 14:47.39. That time should secure a spot at NCAAs, as it’s 9 seconds faster than what it took to qualify last season. Houck is now ranked 9th in the NCAA this season.

Kei Hyogo, who owned the former 500 free Pool Record and still owns the Pool Record in the mile, finished 3rd in the 500 (4:20.79) and 8th in the 1650 (15:39.92) at this meet. Hyogo notched a win for his team in the 200 IM, pulling away from Harvard’s Koya Osada (1:47.92) on the back half to win it in 1:47.03. Osada wound up 3rd as Princeton’s Charles Leibson (1:47.86) ran him down at the finish.

Princeton’s Cole Buese put up the fastest 200 fly time in the Ivy League thus far this season. Buese battled closely with Harvard freshman Michael Zarian, making his move on the 3rd 50 to pull himself into the lead. Buese touched in 1:44.83, while Zarian followed for 2nd place in 1:45.34. Zarian picked up a win of his own in the 400 IM, holding off Kyogo down the stretch to win 3:47.49 to 3:47.95. That was a best time for Zarian by over a second.

PRESS RELEASE – HARVARD:

Day 1 Release:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – After the first day of the annual H-Y-P meet, the No. 25 Harvard men’s swimming and diving team holds a commanding lead over Yale and Princeton. The Crimson leads the Bulldogs, 131-56, while leading the Tigers by a score of 128-58.

Junior Logan Houck came close of eclipsing the Blodgett Pool record in the mile race as he out-swam the rest of the pack. Well ahead of the next closest swimmer, Houck touched the wall with a time of 14:47.39 – the current Blodgett mark (14:47.01) was set by Yale’s Kei Hyogo in last year’s Ivy League Championship.

Sophomore Dean Farris finished with a pair of first place finishes in the 200 freestyle, and the 100 backstroke. In the 200 free, the Atlanta native touched the wall with a time of 1:33.30, while posting a time of 47.21 in the 100 back.

Senior Steven Tan edged out Yale’s Aaron Greenberg by one hundredth of a second for first place in the 50 freestyle, touching the wall with a time of 19.86.

On the boards, senior David Pfeifer finished first in the one-meter dive, scoring 359.55 points, while freshman Austin Fields placed third with 340.75 points.

What’s Next
The three programs return to Blodgett Pool to resume the rest of meet tomorrow at noon. The meet will be broadcast on the Ivy League Network.

Day 2 Release:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard men’s swimming and diving team (9-0, 6-0 Ivy) captured its second Ivy League Dual Meet Championship with a sweep of Yale (7-2, 5-2 Ivy) and Princeton (7-4, 5-2 Ivy) at the annual H-Y-P meet, which concluded Saturday afternoon.

Junior Brennan Novak highlighted day two, breaking the Blodgett Pool record in the 500 freestyle. Novak, who earlier this year took down Harvard’s school record in the event, touched the wall with a time of 4:16.56 – .15 seconds better than the previous mark set by Yale’s Kei Hyogo in last year’s Ivy League Championship.

Sophomore Dean Farris took home three first place finishes. After collecting the top-spot in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke on the first day, the Atlanta native finished first in the 100 freestyle on day two with a time of 42.93.

On the first day of the meet, junior Logan Houck came close to eclipsing the Blodgett Pool record in the mile as he out-swam the rest of the pack. Well ahead of the next closest swimmer, Houck touched the wall with a time of 14:47.39 – the current Blodgett mark is 14:47.01.

Senior Steven Tan picked up two first place finishes. In the 50 freestyle on day one, Tan edged out Yale’s Aaron Greenberg by one-hundredth of a second for first place, touching the wall with a time of 19.86. On the second day, he finished first in the 100 butterfly with a time of 47.41.

On the boards, senior David Pfeifer claimed a first-place finish in the three-meter dive, posting a score of 359.55. Sophomore Austin Fields finished third with a score of 340.75, while Bobby Ross placed fourth with score of 331.40.

Ross was Harvard’s top finisher in the one-meter dive, posting a score of 306.90 to finish second in the event.

What’s Next
Harvard will try to defend its 2017 title with the Ivy League Championships in Princeton, N.J. beginning on Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. The meet will be broadcast on the Ivy League Network.

PRESS RELEASE – YALE:

Day 1 Release:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Yale men’s swimming and diving team held strong on the first day of the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet with several strong performances, including two individual wins.

First year Sam Pekarek posted a personal record in the 100-yard breaststroke to claim his first collegiate win in the 100-yard breaststroke. His time of 54.42 is Yale’s fastest in the event this season so far. Senior Derek Kao followed up in fifth at 55.36. First year Tim Dorje Wu and junior Jacob Limaldi also touched ninth and tenth in the event, respectively.

The Bulldogs had strong showings in the medley events. The teem finished runner-up in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:14.26. Senior Kei Hyogo also captured a win in 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:47.03. Senior Jonathan Rutter followed up in fourth at 1:48.58 and sophomore Tristan Furnary finished at ninth.

Hyogo and Rutter also raced in the highly competitive 200-yard freestyle, where they finished fourth and seventh, respectively. Hyogo touched at 1:36.32 while Rutter touched at 1:37.27. Junior Adrian Lin finished just behind at eighth.

Additionally, Hyogo led the Yale pack in the 1650-yard freestyle, where he finished eighth at 15:39.92, with first years Patrick Frith and Jonathan Liao following in ninth and tenth, respectively.

Yale had strong performances in the 50-yard freestyle as well. Senior Aaron Greenberg finished runner-up at 19.87. Following Greenberg, sophomore Henry Gaissert, first year Philippe Marcoux and sophomore Ryan Huizing finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. The Bulldogs also took third in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:19.79.

The 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard butterfly were hotly contested. In the backstroke, senior Shawn Nee finished seventh with a time of 49.67 and junior Edward Stolarski followed up in ninth. Junior Joey Carbone took seventh at 1:49.16 in the 200-yard butterfly while sophomore Duncan Lee and Frith followed up in eighth and ninth, respectively.

In the three-meter diving, first year Christian DeVol finished fifth with a score of 330.20. Sophomore Chris LaBella also finished seventh with a core of 297.15.

Competition will resume tomorrow at 12:00pm in Harvard’s Blodgett Pool. The meet will be streamed live on the Ivy League Network (pay-per-view) and more information can be found here.

Day 2 Release:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Yale men’s swimming and diving team rallied on the second day of the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet to take a challenging win against Princeton, 177-176. It was the Bulldogs’ first victory against Princeton in 16 years. The team was defeated by Harvard 242-111. With the conclusion of the meet, the Bulldogs sit at a 7-2 winning dual season record.

“Today was a great team win,” said Jim Henry, the Robert J.H. Kiphuth Coach of Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving. “We are all extremely happy with our performances but can’t wait for the next three weeks.”

Starting the second day of competition, Yale’s ‘A’ team – senior Shawn Nee, first year Sam Pekarek, sophomore Ryan Huizing and senior Aaron Greenberg – finished third in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:29.06.

Seniors Kei Hyogo and Jonathan Rutter took on the 400-yard individual medley. Hyogo finished second at 3:47.95 and Rutter finished fourth at 3:51.19. Hyogo had a busy meet schedule, swimming five individual events. In his final swim of the weekend, Hyogo took third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:20.79.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Greenberg and junior Adrian Lin finished second and fourth, respectively. Greenberg touched at 43.96 and Lin finished at 44.55. Sophomore Henry Gaissertfinished just out of the top five at sixth place.

The Bulldogs posted strong performances in the backstroke and butterfly events on the second day. In the 200-yard breaststroke, first year Tyler Harmon finished sixth at 1:46.89 with a big personal record.  Additionally, Huizing touched fourth in the 100-yard butterfly at 48.16 with another personal record.

First-year diver Christian DeVol captured Yale’s first event win of the day, finishing first in the one-meter diving event with 316.05 points. DeVol finishes his first collegiate dual-meet season with eight individual event wins.

Continuing the momentum, Rutter took first in the 200-yard breaststroke with at time of 1:57.99. Pekarek followed up in third at 1:59.63, his second personal record of the weekend.

Closing out the meet, Yale’s ‘A’ team – Gaissert, first year Philippe Marcoux, Lin and Greenberg – finished runner-up in the 400-yard freestyle relay with at time of 2:55.69, giving the Bulldogs just enough to defeat Princeton by one point.

“This year we have continually found ways to get better and I see that continuing into Ivies and the NCAA Championships,” remarked Henry. “It was amazing having so many alumni, parents and fans in Cambridge. None of this would have been possible without the support of Tom Beckett, Chris Pecora, Mike Harris and Lindsay Snecinski.”

Following the conclusion of their dual meet season, the Bulldogs prepare for their championship season. The team will travel to Princeton, N.J., for the Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 21-24.

PRESS RELEASE – PRINCETON:

Junior Cole Buese continued his strong season by posting the best time of the Ivy League season in a victorious 200 fly, but the Princeton men’s swimming and diving team wasn’t able to pick up a victory during its annual HYP weekend. Harvard took control of the meet inside Blodgett Pool and topped Princeton 250-103, while Yale needed the final relay to hold off the Tigers for a 177-176 thriller.

Christian Feiler, Alexander Lewis, Ben Schafer, and Buese opened the weekend by combining to go 1:19.36 for a second-place finish in the 200 free relay.

Sophomore Murphy McQuet opened the individual events with a fifth-place finish in the 200 free (1:37.04), while classmate Sam Cuthbert followed with a fourth-place finish in the 100 back (48.85).

Freshman Corey Lau had an exciting showdown with another Ivy newcomer, Yale’s Sam Pekarek, in the 100 breast; Lau finished second in a tight finish (54.68), while sophomore Daniel Arris followed with a fourth-place finish in 55.14.

Buese grabbed his victory in the 200 fly by pushing past Harvard freshman Michael Zarian over the final 25 to win in 1:44.83 (see highlight below). That time is the best by any Ivy swimmer this season, topping the former best of 1:45.20 by Penn’s Sean Lee.

Schafer took fifth in the 50 free (20.14), and freshman Charles Leibson edged out Harvard’s Koya Osada for second in the 200 IM in 1:47.86.

Attention turned to the diving well at that point, where sophomore Charlie Minns took second on the 3-meter board with 341.45 points.

Following a fifth-place finish by Levy Nathan in the mile (15:21.23), the quartet of Cuthbert, Lau, Schafer and McQuet placed fourth in the 400 medley relay in 3:15.29.

The teams returned to the pool Saturday for the second session, and Princeton opened with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Lewis, Lau, Matt Harrington and Schafer combined to go 1:28.49 to defeat Yale by more than half a second.

Buese followed his strong Friday with a third-place finish in the 400 IM (3:51.15), and McQuet went 44.64 in the 100 free to finish seventh. Sophomore Wade O’Brien took fifth in the 200 back (1:46.49), and Schafer pushed a pair of Harvard swimmers in the 100 fly before taking third in 47.56.

Freshman Arthur Markley took sixth in the 500 free in 4:26.45, while Arris (2:01.11) and Lau (2:01.22) went 4-5 in the 200 breast to conclude the individual swimming events. Minns picked up his second Top-3 finish of the weekend by taking third on the 1-meter board (306.20), while freshman Colten Young finished fourth with 302.00 points.

Yale was able to clinch the dual win over Princeton by taking second in the 400 free relay that ended the HYP meet. The quartet of Joshua Brown, McQuet, Lewis and Buese finished third overall in 2:57.18, but the top Bulldog relay took second in 2:55.69.

Princeton will now have three weeks to prepare for its biggest weekend of the season, and it will get a chance to face both Harvard and Yale in more comfortable surroundings next time. The Ivy League Championships will be held Feb. 21-24 in DeNunzio Pool, and it will be streamed live on the Ivy League Network.