2018 Men’s Ivy League Championships: Day 4 Finals Live Recap; Farris Drops 1:38.9 200 Back

2018 MEN’S IVY LEAGUE SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 21 – Saturday, February 24
• Prelims 11 a.m./Finals 6 p.m.
• DeNunzio Pool, Princeton, NJ
• Defending Champion: Harvard (results)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• NCAA Qualifying

We’re back with the final night of competition at the 2018 Men’s Ivy League Championships in Princeton, New Jersey. Swimmers are set to compete individually in the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, and 200 fly. We’ll also see finals of the 400 free relay and 3-meter diving. Harvard’s Brennan Novak will go for a distance sweep in the mile, but teammate Logan Houck and Yale’s Kei Hyogo could be hard to beat. After a stellar double last night, Harvard’s Dean Farris is in the hunt for another gold in the 200 back. In the 200 breast, Cornell’s Alex Evdokimov is going up against Columbia’s Zach Thomas as he tried for the breaststroke sweep. The Princeton men will challenge for a 200 fly podium sweep tonight with Zach Buerger, Corey Okubo, and Cole Buese.

MEN’S 1650 FREE:

• Ivy League Meet Record: 14:40.18, Chris Swanson (Penn), 2016
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 14:40.75
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 14:56.84

1. GOLD: Brennan Novak, Harvard, 14:46.17
2. SILVER: Logan Houck, Harvard, 14:51.64
3. BRONZE: Kei Hyogo, Yale, 14:53.34

Harvard’s Brennan Novak completed the sweep, dropping 7 seconds to win it. He trailed teammate Logan Houck closely through the first 500 yards, but then took over the lead and stretched it out to 5 seconds by the finish. Houck was about 4 seconds shy of his best, a 14:47.39 from the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet a couple of weeks ago, but still outpaced Yale’s Kei Hyogo for the bronze. Penn freshman Will Thomas and Harvard’s Zach Snyder pushed each other under the 15:00-barrier as they fought for 4th. Snyder led by nearly a second with 100 yards to go, but Thomas closed the gap as he hammered home with a 25.04 final 50 to touch in 14:59.19 to Snyder’s 14:59.59.

MEN’S 200 BACK:

• Ivy League Meet Record: 1:40.52, Jack Manchester (Harvard), 2017
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:39.66
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 1:41.74

1. GOLD: Dean Farris, Harvard, 1:38.99
2. SILVER: Mark Blinstrub, Penn, 1:42.32
3. BRONZE: Daniel Tran, Harvard, 1:43.11

Harvard’s Dean Farris dropped a full second from his lifetime best, flipping in 48.11 halfway as he smashed the Meet Record and completed the backstroke sweep in 1:38.99. He’s now withing a half second of the all-time top 10 performers list in this event. Penn’s Mark Blinstrub knocked another second from his lifetime best to take silver. Harvard’s Daniel Tran and Columbia’s Michal Zyla battled for bronze. Tran led by almost a second halfway and was able to hold off a hard-charging Zyla (1:43.35) into the finish. Harvard’s Koya Osada (1:43.93) was 5th.

MEN’S 100 FREE:

• Ivy League Meet Record: 41.91, Alex Righi (Yale), 2009
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 42.11
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 42.76

1. GOLD: Aaron Greenberg, Yale, 43.19
2. SILVER: Ed Kim, Harvard, 43.24
3. BRONZE: Thomas Dillinger, Penn, 43.28

Harvard’s Ed Kim jumped out to the early lead in 20.32, but Yale’s Aaron Greenberg outpaced him on the back half to narrowly take the gold. Penn’s Thomas Dillinger also closed on Kim, but came up hundredths shy of the silver. Not far behind were Yale’s Henry Gaissert (43.42) and Columbia’s Kevin Frifeldt (43.44).

MEN’S 200 BREAST:

• Ivy League Meet Record: 1:53.56, Alex Evdokimov (Cornell), 2016
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:52.94
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 1:54.54

1. GOLD: Alex Evdokimov, Cornell, 1:52.28
2. SILVER: Jonathan Rutter, Yale, 1:55.68
3. BRONZE: Daniel Chang, Harvard, 1:55.92

Cornell’s Alex Evdokimov was out quick in 53.40, extending his lead on t he back half to shatter his former Meet Record. That was a best time for Evdokimov by over a second. Columbia’s Jae Park moved ahead of Yale’s Jonathan Rutter with a 29.60 3rd 50 split, but started to fade down the final stretch as Rutter pushed ahead for silver and Harvard’s Daniel Chang ran him down for bronze. Park held on for 4th in 1:56.15 as he out-touched Penn’s Mark Andrew (1:56.22).

MEN’S 200 FLY:

• Ivy League Meet Record: 1:42.35, Thomas Glenn (Brown), 2014
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:41.44
• 2017 NCAA Invite Time: 1:43.09

1. GOLD: Zach Buerger, Princeton, 1:43.56
2. SILVER: Cole Buese, Princeton, 1:43.73
3. BRONZE: Shane Brett, Columbia, 1:44.37

Princeton’s Zach Buerger and Cole Buese were neck-and-neck through the front half. On the 3rd 50, Buese split a 26.49 to take over the lead, but Buerger fought back as he outsplit Buese by over half a second on the final 50 to take the win. Columbia’s Shane Brett took advantage of his early speed and held off Princeton’s Corey Okubo (1:44.66) for the bronze.

MEN’S 3-METER DIVING:

• Ivy League Meet Record: 457.35, Michael Mosca (Harvard), 2015

1. GOLD: Jonathan Suckow, Columbia, 447.80
2. SILVER: Colton Young, Princeton, 392.50
3. BRONZE: Jayden Pantel, Columbia, 361.80

Columbia picked up big points between winner Jonathan Suckow and bronze medalist Jayden Pantel. Princeton’s Colton Young took the silver, while teammate Charlie Minns was 5th. Harvard racked up the most points, however, with Bobby Ross (4th), David Pfeifer (6th), Alec DeCaprio (7th), and Hal Watts (8th).

MEN’S 400 FREE RELAY:

• Ivy League Meet Record: 2:52.06, Princeton, 2016
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 2:52.10

1. GOLD: Harvard, 2:51.43
2. SILVER: Yale, 2:52.69
3. BRONZE: Princeton, 2:53.29

Yale got out to the early lead with Henry Gaissert‘s 43.50 leadoff. Ed Kim put up a 42.76 on the 2nd leg to pull Harvard ahead of Yale, but they trailed Princeton by a hundredths after Murphy McQuet‘s 43.15. Zach Buerger put up a 43.30 on the 3rd leg to hold Princeton’s slight lead, but Harvard’s Dean Farris blew away the field with his 41.09 anchor leg. Yale’s Aaron Greenberg moved his team up to silver with a 42.26 anchor split.

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

  1. Harvard University             1630.5   2. Princeton University           1285.5
  3. Yale University                  1138   4. Columbia University            1107.5
  5. University of Pennsylvania     1032.5   6. Cornell University                800
  7. Dartmouth College                 561