Harvard Tops Brown, 169-119, Moves to 7-0

The Harvard men's swimming and diving team won 10 events, including the first six of the day, to cruise past Ivy League rival Brown, 169-119, Saturday afternoon at Blodgett Pool.  Robert Newell, Bill Jones and Simone Melillo each won an individual event and helped the Crimson to a victory in the 200 medley relay, while Zac Ranta claimed both diving events.

Harvard (7-0, 6-0 Ivy League) opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay, as the foursome of Newell, Jones, Melillo and David Guernsey swam a collective time of 1:33.55.  The Crimson also earned a second-place finish in the race as Derick Chui, Justin Davidson, Nicholas Tan and Will Heyburn completed the event in 1:34.29.

Harvard enjoyed 1-2 finishes in the next two events, as Mason Brunnick and Bill Jones posted the top times in the 1000 freestyle and 200 freestyle, respectively.  Brunnick won the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:32.35, while Matthew McLean finished second in 10:02.92.  In the 200 freestyle, Jones touched the wall in 1:40.77, and was followed closely by Eric Lynch who swam the race in 1:40.88.

Niall Janney was the lone Harvard swimmer to finish in the top 5 of the 100 backstroke, as he won the race in 53.05.  The Crimson continued its win streak to open the meet with victories in the 100 breaststroke and 200 butterfly.  Melillo claimed first in the 100 breaststroke with a mark of 58.51, while Blake Lewkowitz had a top time of 1:55.08 in the 200 fly.  Ross Ford was less than half a second off Lewkowitz's pace, as he swam the event in 1:55.56 for third place.

Even though Brown won the 50 freestyle, Harvard recorded two of the top 4 best times, as Guernsey was second in 21.43 and Tyler Holland took fourth in 21.95.

Ranta scored 316.50 in the one-meter dive to win the event, and later posted 312.23 points to capture the three-meter competition and sweep the diving events.  Henry Winslow collected 236.48 points for third, and Drew Davis had a score of 218.63 for fourth place in the three-meter.

Newell captured his individual event in the 200 breaststroke, as he led all swimmers with a time of 2:15.87.  Harvard dominated the next race, posting the top three times in the 500 freestyle.  Thomas Gray had the best time to win the race, as he swam in 4:43.41.  Robert Lynch and Holland were second and third, as they finished the 500 free in 4:49.47 and 5:15.57, respectively.

In the 100 freestyle, Tan led a 2-3-4 finish for Harvard swimmers, as he grabbed the wall in 47.06.  Graham Frankel swam third with a time of 47.59, while Eric Lynch came in fourth in 47.83.  Jamie Mannion and Brunnick, meanwhile, took third and fourth in the 200 backstroke.  Mannion posted a mark of 1:57.42, while Brunnick finished the race in 2:01.56.  Harvard also collected key points in the 100 butterfly, as Crimson swimmers went 3-4-5.  David Lynch (52.50), Chui (52.56) and Ross Ford (52.92) all finished within less than 0.5 seconds of one another. 

The 200 IM was held as an exhibition, and Will Heyburn led all swimmers with a mark of 2:02.87.  Teammates Michael Lin (2:03.87) and McLean (2:16.43) were third and fourth. 

In the final two race of the afternoon, Harvard swimmers posted 2-3 finishes in the 400 IM and 200 freestyle relay.  Guernsey was second in the 400 IM, as he swam the event in 4:08.16, and Lewkowitz claimed third in 4:09.41.  In the 200 free relay, Harvard's "A" foursome of Holland, Frankel, Janney and Rick McKellar posted a collective time of 1:27.54 for second place.  Another relay team comprised of Bill Jones, Eric Taylor, Heyburn and Guernsey were third in 1:27.63.  

The Crimson will conclude its regular season with the annual HYP meet against Yale and Princeton.  The two-day meet will be held at Blodgett Saturday, Jan. 31 and Sunday, Feb. 1.  Competition on Saturday begins at 6 p.m.