Harvard vs. Arizona
- January 11, 2025
- Hillenbrand Aquatic Center — Tuscon, AZ
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Score: NR Harvard, 178 def. #21 Arizona, 122
- Full Results
Harvard sophomore David Schmitt broke his 200 butterfly program record to highlight the Crimson’s win over the Arizona Wildcats. The Ivy League powerhouse led the meet from start to finish, outscoring Arizona 178 to 122.
Schmitt, the defending Ivy League champion in the 200 butterfly, broke 1:42 for the first time in the event to break his record. He swam 1:41.25, breaking his school record of 1:42.17 by .92 seconds. The swim moves Schmitt from sixth to fourth on the mid-major all-time top 10 list, jumping ahead of the 1:41.84 Princeton’s Mitchell Schott swam earlier this season. He also vaults to 12th in the NCAA this season.
Later in the meet, Schmitt broke through another barrier, breaking 46 seconds for the first time in the 100 butterfly. He won the event in 45.99, improving from the 46.26 lifetime best he swam at midseason and jumping from sixth to third in Harvard program history.
Harvard jumped out to a 15-2 lead by placing first and second in the meet-opening 200-medley relay. The 50% first-year relay of Anthony Rincon (21.56), Joshua Chen (24.25), Sonny Wang (20.41), and Marre Gattnar (19.02) claimed victory in 1:25.25, the team’s fastest outing of the season.
Arizona struck back in the next two events, winning the 1000 and 200 freestyle as Mason Nyboer swam 9:10.19 in the 1000 freestyle and Ralph Daleiden Ciuferri clocked 1:34.96 in the 200 freestyle. However, Haravrd still held a seven-point lead after the 200 freestyle, as the team mitigated the damage done by taking second through fourth in the 1000 free and second and third in the 200 free.
The freestyle events were a strength for Arizona on the day. The Wildcats won all the freestyle events but the 50 freestyle, including the 400 freestyle relay to end the meet. After his 1000 freestyle win, Nyboer completed the distance sweep by touching first in the 500 free (4:26.07).
After the 200 free, Harvard went on a six-event win run to consolidate its lead. The Crimson first years performed well; Chen, and Adriano Arioti all earned event wins at the meet. Chen swept the breaststroke events, swimming 53.62 in the 100 breast and 1:56.99 in the 200 breast. He moves up Harvard’s all-time rankings in both events, breaking onto the 100 breaststroke list at sixth and moving up to seventh in the 200 breaststroke. Chen owns lifetime bests of 52.59/1:53.71 in the breaststrokes, so has room to move up as the postseason approaches.
Arizona’s Bryan Wong touched second in the 200 breaststroke with a lifetime best of his own. He swam 1:58.67, improving from the 1:58.97 he swam at the Wolfpack Elite Invitational in November.
Arioti won the last individual event of the meet, the 200 IM, with a 1:47.89, heading up a Crimson podium sweep.
Wang, the defending Ivy League champion in the 50 free, stopped the Arizona sweep of the freestyle events by triumphing in the 50 free, clocking 19.64, just three-hundredths from his season best.
The senior Rincon swept the backstroke events, winning the 100 backstroke in a season-best 46.38 and taking the 200 backstroke in 1:41.52. He was less than a second from his lifetime best of 1:40.64 in the 200 back.
Diver Gage Dubois picked up Arizona’s final individual win of the meet, beating 1-meter winner Adam Wesson on the 3-meter by scoring 378.60 points. The Wildcats got the win in the last race of the meet as Daleiden Ciuferri (43.98), Tomas Lukminas (42.24), Haakon Naughton (43.56), and Hunter Ingram (43.52) posted a 2:53.30 to win by over three seconds.
Up Next
Arizona is back in action next week as they host the University of Minnesota. Harvard returns to New England and will take on Brown on Jan. 17.
