Harvard Sweeps ECAC Titles

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, February 18. OVER the weekend, Harvard wound up with a title-sweep at the ECAC Championships in its own pool.

Harvard came into the final day of the women's meet in third place, just 170 points behind leader Marist despite only competing with nine student-athletes—half a team—for the first two days of the meet. Nine more Crimson joined the squad after returning from Ivies at Princeton, and Harvard finished with 648 points to Marist's 589.5. Rider placed third in the 16-team field with 409.5 points.

Freshman Alexandra Clarke began the final day with a win in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 17:19.16. Senior Noelle Bassi later led five Harvard finalists in the 200 butterfly with a winning time of 2:01.41. Clarke, sophomore Kelly Mooney, senior Kyle Cutter and junior Meaghan Colling wrapped up the meet by winning the 400 free relay in 3:32.46, edging Rider by 0.22 seconds.

The Crimson's newfound depth was the key to its resurgence. Harvard took the lead with its dominance of the 200 fly, the final individual event. Following Bassi to the wall were freshman Sophie Morgan, junior Bridget O'Connor, Clarke and senior LeeAnn Chang in fourth through seventh place, respectively. The Crimson also made up ground in the preceding race, the 200 breaststroke, in which junior Jaclyn Pangilinan, Chang and Colling finished in the top four.

Harvard also had four finalists in the 100 free: Clarke (second), Colling (third), Morgan (fifth) and Bassi (eighth). Other strong performances on the final day came from freshman Katie Faulkner, who placed fourth in the 1,650, and finalists Kay Foley (third) and Kara O'Reilly (seventh) in the 200 backstroke.

The Crimson's shorthanded performance on the first two days put it in position to rally Sunday. Faulkner placed second in the weekend's first individual event, the 500 free, in 5:04.92. Mooney placed sixth in the 200 individual medley. Caitlin High placed fifth in Friday's one-meter diving and fourth Saturday in the three-meter.

Also Saturday, Mooney and freshman Margaret Wollner claimed fourth and seventh place, respectively, in the 400 IM. O'Reilly (seventh) and freshman Camille Vasquez (eighth) were finalists 100 fly, and Faulkner took sixth in the 100 free. Cutter finished third in the 100 free. Harvard had top-three finishes in the 200 medley and 800 free relays.

On the men's side, Tommy Gray's win in the 1,650-yard freestyle paced Harvard. While Gray's win was Harvard's only event win in the 20-event meet, the Crimson's depth proved to be the difference as Harvard consistently was able to place multiple swimmers in the championship finals.

Harvard won the meet with 513 points to finish well ahead of second-place Marist, which scored 458.5 points. Columbia was third with 387.5 points, followed by Johns Hopkins (378), Rider (369), Binghamton (366), Yale (358), Penn (236.5), Loyola (159) and Iona (114.5) to round out the top 10. Eighteen schools scored points in the three-day event.

Gray, who had taken second in the 500 freestyle in Friday's opening day of competition, cruised to a six-second win the 1,650 as he clocked 15:59.58. Gray was one of three Crimson swimmers in the top eight as Tim Parent took sixth and Kevin Koslosky was eighth.

Freshman Michael Dunn reached the championship final of the 200 backstroke and delivered a third-place finish, while senior Patrick Morrissey followed with a sixth-place effort in the 100 freestyle.

Senior Nick Cirella took third in the 200 breaststroke, while Harvard had two of the top four finishers in the 200 butterfly. Freshman Rick McKellar touched in second place, while first-year man Robert Lynch was fourth.

The Crimson took ninth in the closing 400 freestyle relay, but Harvard's lead proved to be insurmountable.

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