Harvard Crimson Dominates Tri-Meet with Cornell and Dartmouth

Let’s just start this meet recap with HOLY POOL RECORDS!! This past weekend in Hanover, New Hampshire, there was an Ivy-League showdown with the Harvard Crimson, Cornell Bears, and Dartmouth Big Green. Harvard stole the show with wins against both teams for the men and women while Cornell women beat Dartmouth women and Dartmouth men beat Cornell men. The scores are as follows:

Men’s meet (results can be found here)

Harvard vs. Dartmouth: 211.5-88.5

Harvard vs. Cornell: 229-71

Dartmouth vs. Cornell: 170-130

The Harvard men started their meet in a great way by taking first and second on the 200 medley relay with their A-relay of Jack Manchester, Eric Ronda, Oliver Lee, and Griffin Schumacher with a 1:32.38. The B-relay for the Crimson took second with Jack Pretto, Jason Ting, Jacob Luna, and Chris Satterhwaite with a 1:33.12. Third place with a 1:33.36 was the Cornell A-relay of Dylan Sali, Victor Luo, Michael Reynolds, and Taylor Adams.

Cliff Goertemiller represented the Harvard freshman class and took the 1000 free with a 9:24.22 with a very solid middle 500 to his race. Second and third was to the wire with Mike Gaudiani and Aly Abdel Khalik with respective times of 9:30.42 and 9:30.64 as the race went back and forth between the two, 50 by 50. Fourth place would have been Steven Kekacs with a 9:36.70 but due to an exhibition swim, the points went to Jun Oh for Dartmouth with a 9:45.46.

Harvard took first and second again in the 200 freestyle as Satterthwaite went a 1:39.27 that broke Bobby Hackett’s 32 year old previous pool record of 1:39.62. Junior Zachary Walters took second with a 1:40.79 with a negative split on the last 50 of his race by over a full second and Oh took third with a 1:41.04.

In the 100 backstroke, the underclassmen from all schools took up the majority of scoring spots. Dartmouth took the win with James Verhagen being the only swimmer to break the 50 second mark with a 49.67 as Jack Manchester came in second wih a 50.32. Third place was Sali with a 50.73 and fourth was Mitchell Foster of Harvard with a 51.23.

In the 100 breast, Ronda took the win with a 57.31 as Luo landed second with a 57.96. Third and fourth place went to Dartmouth freshman Timo Vailmann with a 58.13 and Patrick Kang with a 58.45.

Jacob Luna won the 200 fly with a 1:50.26 though his first 50 might have been a risk not well calculated: he might have bit off more than he could chew, but held his last 100 strong enough to not finish the race well. Second place was teammate and classmate Leo Lim right behind him with a 1:50.96. David Harmon took third for Dartmouth with a 1:51.59.

Harvard and Dartmouth went head to head and left Cornell behind in the 50 free as seniors Lee and Danny Crigler took first and second with respective times of 20.63 and 21.06. Dartmouth took third and fourth with Daniel Whitcomb with a 21.24 and right behind him was Andrew North with a 21.32.

Satterthwaite grabbed another win in the 100 free with a 45.02 as junior Schumacher took second with a 45.72 and Lee took third with a 46.43. Fourth place was Ian Woon for Dartmouth with a 46.89.

With the 200 back fell another pool record was previously held by Colin Cordes with a 1:49.48 as Manchester won the event with a 1:47.27. Sali was a full three seconds behind him in second with a 1:50.36 and Verhagen was just edged out as he took third with a 1:50.56. Foster for Harvard took fourth with a 1:52.62.

The 200 breast was a spread out field as first and third place were a full five seconds apart from each other. Rhonda won the event for Harvard with a 2:02.62 as sophomore Luo took second with a 2:04.53. Jay Schulte was third for Dartmouth with a 2:07.38. Right behind him in fourth place was Ting with a 2:07.53.

Abdel Khalik was first place in the extremely close 500 free as first through third place was separated by barely a second. Abdel Khalik swam a 4:34.65 as teammate and classmate Cliff Goertemiller took second with a 4:35.19 that edged out Oh with a 4:35.55, who took third. Fourth places was Kekacs with a 4:43.79.

David Harmon won the 100 fly just over the 50 second mark with a 50.06, despite a great split on his first 50. Second place went to North with a 50.56 and Luna took third with a 50.76. Kenneth Castro-Abrams took fourth with a 51.19.

Aaron Athanas came in strong for Dartmouth as he won the 200 IM in a 1:54.44. Eric May came in second for Cornell with a 1:55.14 as Christian Yeager was barely third with a 1:55.19. Lim was also right with the pack but took fourth with a 1:55.55.

Wrapping up the men’s meet with the 400 free relay was Harvard, taking first and second with their A-relay and B-relay respectively. The upperclassman A-relay of Lee, Crigler, Shumacher, and Satterthwaite took first and broke the pool record, which was previously set by Harvard with a 3:03.94, with a 3:02.48. The Harvard B-relay of Abdel Khalik, Manchester, Pretto, and Walters took second with a 3:06.75.

Women’s meet (results can be found here)

Harvard vs. Dartmouth: 201-99

Harvard vs. Cornell: 196-104

Cornell vs. Dartmouth: 160-140

Harvard and Dartmouth went at it right away in the 200 medley relay as the Harvard A-relay of Danielle Lee, Stephanie Ferrell, Kendall Crawford, and Victoria Chan with a 1:45.00 which broke the very recent pool record of 1:45.15, set by Columbia in the previous college season. Second place was the Dartmouth A-relay of Kendese Nangle, Heather Laedtke, Emily Holt, and Mary Van Metre with a 1:46.03. The Harvard B-relay of Faith Martin, Sara Li, Danielle Schulkin, and Daniela Johnson took third with a 1:47.47.

Harvard went one-two-three in the 1000 free as their sophomore distance swimmers brought home big points. Sherry Liu took first with a 10:09.23 as Marlee Ehrlich was second with a 10:22.31 and Margaret Ramsey was third with a 10:23.22. Liu had much better stamina throughout her race which helped her carry speed over from 50 to 50. Just barely in fourth place was Cornell freshman superstar Currie Murch Elliot with a 10:23.35.

Lee came back to win the 200 free. Her first place swim of 1:50.63 swept the field by almost two full seconds and good for another record which was previously set by Christine Kerr with a 1:51.36. Second place was Harvard freshman Ashlee Korsberg with a 1:52.40 and barely third was Johnson with a 1:52.49. Johnson had a much better middle 100 than Korsberg, but she couldn’t shut out Korsberg’s last 50.

Harvard’s 200 medley butterflyer is also a backstroker as Crawford won the 100 back with a 55.34 and, you guessed it, another pool record which was previously held by none other than Dartmouth’s 200 medley A-relay backstroker Nangle. Second place went to Victoria Chan with a 55.85 and third was Nangle with a 56.63. All three would have been pool record as the previous pool record was 56.70, but the Harvard backstrokers beat Nangle to the finish.

Ferrell won the 100 breaststroke with a 1:05.76 as Dartmouth’s Laedtke was just behind her in second with a 1:05.81. Laedtke’s first 50 was much stronger than Ferrell’s but Ferrell’s back half pulled through. Kim Jerome of Cornell took third with a 1:06.55 as Meredith Drummond took fourth with a 1:07.52.

Courtney Otto took first in the 200 fly for Harvard with a 2:04.20 as Kerr took second with a 2:07.97. Otto’s front half held strong against Kerr’s, though their back half splits were dangerously close. Connie Hsu for Harvard took third with a 2:08.98.

Jenna Immormino took the win in the 50 free and the first pool record for Cornell with a 23.05. The record was previously held by Katie Meili with a 23.48. Second place was Nangle with a 23.65 as Li took third for Harvard with a 23.74. Fourth place was teammate and classmate Deidre Clute with a 24.09.

But Immormino didn’t stop there as she grabbed another pool record with a 50.48 in her 100 free, which was previously held by Alex Forrester with a 51.14. Second place was Charlotte Kamai with a 51.73 and third was Johnson with a 51.83.

Nangle won the 200 back with a 2:04.81 as Billy Murch Elliot took second with a 2:06.40. Murch Elliot had a faster third 50 than Nangle but couldn’t make up for the lost ground on the first 100 as she lost speed on her last 50. Third place for Harvard was Kelsey Hojan Clark with a 2:06.63.

As Ferrell cleans up on the 200 breaststroke with a 2:23.22, she slides right by Drummond who didn’t have the back half speed as Ferrell did and took second with a 2:23.33. Third place went to Martin with a 2:23.94 and fourth place was Laedtke with a 2:23.97. Talk about a tight race!

Lee won the 500 free just barely over the five minute mark with a 5:00.51 as teammate Willa Wang took second place with a 5:03.17. Third place was Currie Murch Elliot with a 5:03.90 as Olivia Samson took fourth for Dartmouth with a 5:06.10.

The 100 fly was won by Chan with a 55.66 as Immormino took second right behind her with a 55.99. Immormino had a better front half, but only just, until Chan took over for the win. Third place went to Schulkin with a 58.08 and Holt took fourth with a 58.34.

In the 200 IM, Billy Murch Elliot took first with a strong backstroke leg with a 2:07.95. Second place was twin Currie Murch Elliot with a 2:08.24 who had a much stronger breaststroke leg than her sister. Third place was Drummond with a 2:10.19 and fourth would have gone to Molly Orbon with a 2:11.04, but due to an exhibition swim the points went to Madeline Wall who swam a 2:11.39.

The 400 free relay wrapped up the meet as the Harvard A-relay of Chan, Lee, Li, and Johnson took down another pool record with a 3:24.74 which was previously held by Yale with a 3:28.67. Second place was the Cornell A-relay of Immormino, Stankaitis, Jennifer Zhang, and Anna Elling.