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Record Book Torched as Harvard Stretches Lead After Day 3 of Ivy League Men's Champs

Records continued to fall in day three action of the 2017 Men's Swimming & Diving Championships at Blodgett Pool. In all six championship meet records fell Friday, with Harvard's Dean Farris having a hand in 3-of-6.

Yale's Kei Hyogo, who snapped a 37-year-old Blodgett Pool record in the B final of 500-yard freestyle Thursday, proved victorious in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 8:49.45—which was both a championship meet and Blodgett Pool record. The Harvard trio of Brennan Novak (8:50.79), Logan Houck (8:54.84) and Zach Snyder (9:00.99) finished behind Hyogo.

In the 400-yard individual medley, Penn's Mark Andrew defended his Ivy title and bettered his championship meet record, touching in 3:43.28. Andrew outpaced teammate Thomas Dillinger (3:47.59) and Columbia's Shane Brett (3:48.21) to claim his second-straight Ivy championship in the event.

Max Yakubovich of Harvard also defended his Ivy crown, with a time of 46.54 in the 100-yard butterfly to out-touch Columbia's Terry Li (46.88) and Penn's James Jameson (46.95).

Dean Farris broke Rowdy Gaines' 37-year old Blodgett Pool record of 1:34.57 in the 200-yard freestyle preliminaries with a time of 1:32.71, which was also a championship meet record. The Harvard freshman then surpassed his own mark in the finals, touching the wall in 1:31.56. Each of Farris' swims was also an NCAA A cut. Yale's Adrian Lin (1:34.25) and Harvard's Aly Abdel Khalik (1:36.24) claimed the second and third slots in the final.

In the 100-yard breaststroke Cornell's Alex Evdokimov joined the elite club of three-time Ivy titlists with a championship meet and Blodgett Pool record 52.13 to best Harvard's Shane McNamara (52.76) and Penn's Colin McHugh (53.98). Evdokimov is just the fifth-ever three-time Ivy champion in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Harvard freshman Dean Farris, who broke the championship meet and Blodgett pool records in the 100-yard backstroke morning preliminaries, bettered that mark in the finals to claim an Ivy title with a time of 45.38—just .01 seconds off the NCAA A cut. Farris led the Crimson to a 1-2-3 finish in the event, alongside teammates Jack Manchester (47.08) and Max Yakubovich (47.19).

Brown's Jonathan Schlafer posted a score of 293.30 to top the three-meter diving consolation final, ahead of Penn's John-Michael Diveris (277.35) and Ray Neistat (257.25).

In the evening's final event, Harvard claimed its four relay title with a championship meet and Blodgett Pool record of 3:06.98, which also qualifies as an NCAA A cut. The Crimson finished nearly five seconds ahead of Penn (3:11.80), who placed second, while Cornell touched third (3:12.34).

Through 14 events, Harvard (1122) and Penn (906) have distanced themselves from the field. Columbia sits in third with 778 points, while Yale (743.5), Cornell (575.5), Brown (553) and Dartmouth (376) round out the seven-team field.

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