Duke Swimming and Diving Sweeps Harvard; Men Take Down Texas A&M in Tri-Meet

Melissa Pish won the 200 and 500 free for Duke. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Duke swimming and diving capped off a successful weekend in Massachusetts with a dominating performance in the pool Saturday morning as the Blue Devils took down the Harvard program and the seventh-ranked Texas A&M team at a meet hosted by Harvard in Cambridge, Mass.

RESULTS

Team Scores (Men)

Duke 163, Texas A&M 137
Duke 172, Harvard 128
Texas A&M 167.5, Harvard 132.5

Team Scores (Women)

Duke 209, Harvard 91

Duke Swimming and Diving Press Release

“I am super proud of the group,” Duke swimming and diving head coach Dan Colella said. “It’s been a great weekend of racing new teams and both last night and today provided a lot of great experiences. These were experiences that we can learn from and grow from for the coming meets.”

After sweeping Dartmouth, UConn and Boston College a day ago, Duke topped Harvard 209-91 on the women’s side and 172-128 on the men’s side while the men also beat No. 7 Texas A&M 163-137 at the meet. Duke wraps up the weekend in Massachusetts unbeaten, 4-0 for the women and 5-0 for the men. No. 17 Duke women improve to 5-1 on the year as the men become 6-1.

The Blue Devils started and closed the meet strong, sweeping the relay events. The women’s team of Emma Shuppert, Halle Morris, Alyssa Marsh and Sarah Snyder took first in the 200 medley relay in 1:38.13, fifth in Duke history. The men followed suit with Nathaniel Hartley, Cole Reznick, Charlie Gingrich, and Miles Williams finishing in 1:28.15 for the top spot. Saturday’s meet was the fourth consecutive meet that Duke has swept the 200 medley relay events.

To close the meet, Duke continued its relay dominance with Melissa Pish, Sarah Snyder, Kylie Jordan and Quinn Scannell taking first in 3:20.65. Williams, Sheldon Boboff, Hartley and Matthew Whelan won the event for the men with a time of 2:57.43 to secure the Blue Devil victory.

The 17th-ranked Duke women’s team strung together nine individual wins throughout the morning. Marsh led the Blue Devils with three wins while Pish followed contributing two. Easop Lee, Shuppert, Connie Dean and Kayle Park all added wins as well.

Marsh took the two freestyle sprints, the 50 and 100, while also claiming the 100 fly. She finished the 50 free in 22.54, the 100 free in 48.79 and the 100 fly in 52.25. Pish finished first in the 200 free and the 500 free in times of 1:47.00 and 4:49.95, respectively.

Lee finished first in the 1,000 free in 9:49.81, etching third in the Duke history books. Shuppert continued her ways in 100 back, winning the event for the third time this season with a time of 53.82, moving up to fifth in program history. She has improved her time with each win. Duke took both the 100 and 200 breast as Park and Dean finished in 1:02.24, sixth in Duke history, and 2:14.44, respectively.

On the men’s side, Zach Washart led the cause with two individual wins in distance free events. Washart took the 1,000 free in 9:09.28, the second-best time in Duke history, and the 500 free in 4:26.88.

Boboff and Williams also contributed individual wins to the Blue Devils. Boboff won the 200 free with a time of 1:37.69. Williams won the 100 free, finishing in 44.12.

Nathaniel Hernandez continued to impress on the boards as he won the one-meter event with a score of 384.35.

Texas A&M Press Release

The No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies men’s swimming & diving team was stopped short of a road trip sweep as they toppled Harvard 167.5-132.5, but fell to Duke swimming and diving 163–137 on Nov. 9 in the Blodgett Pool.

Five different Aggie swimmers placed first individually on the day. Shaine Casas won the 100 back and the 200 back, in addition to finishing second in the 100 fly. Adam Koster notched a first-place finish in the 50 free and a second-place finish in the 100 free. Jace Brown also touched the wall first in the 200 fly that featured a comeback in the final split of the race.

Breaststroke specialists, Benjamin Walker and Andres Puente are earning the notoriety of a one-two punch combo as they continue to find themselves at the top of their events. Walker and Puente finished first and second in the 100 breast, and then Puente occupied the first-place spot in the 200 breast, followed by Walker at second. The duo has placed in the top-two spots together seven times this season and nine times in the top-five.

On the diving boards Victor Povzner placed first in the 3-meter scoring 404.90 and second in the 1-meter with 364.35 going toe-to-toe with 2019 First Team All-American, Nathaniel Hernandez. Kurtis Mathews followed closely coming in at third in both dives scoring 384.80 in the 3-meter and 328.30 in the 1-meter.

Harvard Press Release

Men

Harvard men put forth a solid effort in its first competition of the season against a Duke swimming and diving team that entered with five dual-meet decisions in ’19-20 and a Texas A&M squad that was 2-1 on the year.

The Crimson were led by Umitcan Gures and Michael Zarian, who won the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard individual medley, respectively. Gures, a sophomore, was triumphant with a time of 47.68, while the junior Zarian finished in 1:49.37.

Outside of the Harvard final scores, Duke defeated Texas A&M, 163-137. With the Duke sweep, it improved to 5-2, while the Aggies moved to 3-2 after their split.

Harvard registered 14 top-3 finishes on the day, highlighted by the Gures and Zarian victories.
Sophomore Jake Johnson was the runner-up in the 200-yard butterfly, posting a time of 1:48.33. He finished .04 seconds behind the winner (Jace Brown – Texas A&M).
First-year Will Grant was impressive in his first outing with the Crimson, coming in second place in the 200 back (1:45.32) and third in the 100 back (48.42) and 200 IM (1:50.03). Grant also swam the first leg on the 200 medley relay (1:29.29) that finished in third.
Cole Kuster, a first-year from Williamstown, enjoyed a solid debut, posting a second-place effort in the 500 free (4:28.53) and a third-place performance in the 1,000 free (9:15.01).
In the diving events, Austin Fields was Harvard’s top performer in the 3-meter competition, finishing in fourth place with 315.15 points. As for the 1-meter event, Alec DeCaprio led the Crimson with 285.95 points (5th place).

Women

Harvard women won four events on the day, taking first place in the 200-yard butterfly, 3-meter diving, 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley.

Miki Dahlke, who was in action for the first time since the 2019 NCAA Championships, won the 200 fly with an NCAA B-qualifying time of 1:58.85. Her effort propelled her into sixth in the Harvard record book.

Georgina Milne met the NCAA diving standard en route to winning the 3-meter event. The junior tallied 302.75 points and finished ahead of teammate Esther Lawrence’s runner-up score of 297.30.

First-year Felicia Pasadyn, meanwhile, was victorious in the 200 back, clocking in at 1:57.41, and the 200 IM, touching the pad in 2:01.29.

Harvard Highlights

The Crimson posted 15 top-3 finishes on the day, including six first- or second-place efforts.
In addition to winning the 200 back and 200 IM, Felicia Pasadyn also swam the anchor leg on the third-place 200-yard medley relay (1:41.14) and finished fifth in the 200 free (1:49.08).
Dahlke logged a third-place performance in the 500 free (4:53.52), while swimming the second leg on the 400 free relay (3rd place; 3:24.35).
Lawrence surpassed the NCAA qualifying standard in the 1-meter diving event with 267.55 points. Her effort was good for third place in the 16-diver field.
Kennidy Quist produced a runner-up finish in the 100-yard freestyle, posting a time of 50.29. The junior was one of three Crimson swimmers to finish in the top six (Mei Lynn Colby – 4th, 51.07; Darlene Fung – 6th, 51.91).
Quist and Colby both recorded times of 23.41 in the 50 free to finish in tie for third place.

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