Harvard Claims Seventh Consecutive Ivy League Men’s Championship; Matt Fallon Blasts 1:49 in 200 Breaststroke

Harvard Claims Seventh Consecutive Ivy League Men’s Championship

The king stayed atop the throne. Despite a hard-fought effort from Princeton, Harvard retained its hold on the title during the weekend’s Ivy League Men’s Championships. The Crimson prevailed on their home turf, winning their seventh consecutive title. Here’s a day-by-day look at the action.

Final Team Scores

Harvard – 1682
Princeton – 1321
Yale – 1030
Penn – 909
Brown – 861.5
Columbia – 855
Cornell – 798.5
Dartmouth – 390

Day One

The Men’s Ivy League Championships opened with a bang. In a close race, Harvard (Anthony Ricon, Gunner Grant, Aayush Deshpande, Sonny Wang) won the 200 medley relay in a 1:24.86, out-touching Yale’s quartet of Lucius Brown, Alex Hazlett, Marcus Hodgson, and Deniel Nankov (1:25.11). Both teams were under Harvard’s pool record time of 1:25.46, which was previously set by Columbia in 2020.

In the 800 free relay, Harvard cruised to a first-place finish as it led right out of the gate. Ben Littlejohn, David Greenly, Marcus Holmquist, and Harris Durham touched in a time of 6:16.13. Although their relay was only a tenth off the NCAA A cut, the Harvard relay broke the pool record by nearly three seconds.

Day Two

Harvard had already established a lead heading into Day Two competition, but there was a close race for second between Yale and Princeton. Ben Littlejohn (Harvard) opened the finals session with a commanding win in the 500 free, going 4:15.20.

In the 200 IM, Harvard’s Gunner Grant touched in a time of 1:42.83, breaking the pool record, which was previously held by Princeton’s Raunak Khosla.

The session’s individual races wrapped up with with the splash and dash. Harvard freshman Sonny Wang sped to a first-place finish in with a time of 19.71, just one-tenth ahead of Penn’s Benjamin Feldman.

Harvard closed a spectacular session for the Crimson with a win in the 200 freestyle relay. The relay of Sonny Wang, Marcus Holmquist, David Greeley, and Aayush Deshpande finished in a time of 1:17.41, with all members being well under the 20 second barrier for their splits.

Aidan Wang, a freshman from Princeton, was the sole non-Harvard winner of the day. Wang won the one-meter diving event with a score of 351.85.

Day Three

Princeton entered Day Three looking to make some moves on the reigning champion, sitting about 100 points behind Harvard. Princeton’s John Ehling started off strong with a win in the 1000 free, dropping nearly 10 seconds from his seed time to prevail in 8:53.53.

Joseph Gurski gave Cornell its first win of the meet in the 100 fly (46.24). This win prevented a Harvard sweep of the top spots as the Crimson took second (David Schmitt, 46.42), third (Sonny Wang, 46.58), and fourth (Aayush Deshpande, 46.73).

Princeton freshman Noah Sech notched the Tigers’ second win of the day in the 400 IM. Sech finished in a time of 3:45.95, almost three seconds ahead of Cornell freshman Julian Correa (3:48.60). All the way from the B final of the event, Princeton sophomore Lucas Strobek touched in a time 3:48.08, which, if he swam in the A final, would have placed him second overall.

Harvard’s Ben Littlejohn claimed another win, this time in the 200 free. Littlejohn won with a time of 1:33.24, ahead of his teammate David Greely, who touched in a 1:34.13.

Brown University’s Jake Kelly won the 100 breaststroke with a 52.23, narrowly out-touching U.S. National Team member and Penn swimmer Matt Fallon by .05. Kelly was just off his prelims time of 51.58.

Harvard took a 1-2 finish in the 100 backstroke. Senior Gunner Grant swam a 46.35, which followed a prelims time of 46.18. Junior Anthony Rincon finished in a time of 46.61, but was also faster in prelims (46.48).

Harvard won yet another relay title to close the session. The 400 medley relay of Anthony Rincon, Gunner Grant, David Schmitt, and David Greeley swam a 3:06.74. The quartet dipped under the NCAA B cut and broke their own pool record. Columbia (Isaac Beers, Demirkan Demir, Brian Lee, Zion James) took the second spot with a 3:07.34.

Day Four

Harvard’s Cole Kuster opened up the last finals session of the meet with a win in the 1650 (15:02.52). Brown’s Aidan Wilson took the runnerup spot with a 15:05.30. The fastest 1650 from the slower heats came from Simon Lamar (Harvard), who posted a 15:05.35 to take third place overall.

Gunner Grant (Harvard) won his fourth consecutive title in the 200 back, winning the event in a time of 1:40.68. Grant’s teammate Anthony Rincon took second place with a time of 1:41.32.

Harvard continued its Day Four winning streak with a first-place effort from David Greeley in the 100 free (42.82). Yale freshman Deny Nankov touched in second with a time of 43.17.

Penn standout swimmer Matt Fallon, a World Champs medalist last summer, claimed the 200 breast title with a 1:49.75, breaking his own pool and meet record in the process. This time is currently the fastest in the NCAA and the only sub-1:50 swim this campaign. Brown’s Jack Kelly touched in 1:51.63 to claim second place.

In a race that came down to the final 50 yards, Harvard’s David Schmitt out-touched his teammate Ben Littlejohn to claim the 200 fly title (1:42.44 to 1:42.58). Joseph Gurski (Cornell) took third place with a time of 1:43.64.

The Harvard Crimson completed its clean sweep of the Ivy League relays with a win in the 400 free relay. The relay of Ben Littlejohn, David Greeley, Aayush Deshpande, and Marcus Holmquist took the crown in a pool record time of 2:50.73. Princeton’s Brett Feyerick, Mitchell Schott, Daniel Li, and Lucas Tudoras finished in the runnerup spot with a time of 2:53.45.

Princeton’s Aidan Wang completed his diving event sweep with a win on three-meter board. Wang’s final score was 409.55 points.

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