Farris Beats Craig Twice as Harvard Men Edge Arizona State

Harvard Vs. Arizona State

• Results
• Hosted by Arizona State
• Saturday, January 6th
• 25 Yards
• Dual Meet Format

Final Score:

Men: Harvard 155, Arizona State 143

Harvard, unranked in our last round of power rankings, edged out #10 Arizona State in a back-and-forth battle as the two teams opened up 2018 with a dual meet that was much tighter than most.

Harvard jumped out to the lead early, thanks to a 20.36 fly split by Steven Tan that helped the Crimson take the medley relay, 1:28.64 to 1:29.12, despite by a sub-20 anchor by Cameron Craig.

The Crimson kept things rolling with a 1-2 finish in the 1000 free, with Brennan Novak winning in a time of 9:03.25.  Next, two sophomores who last year as freshmen made some of the biggest splashes in NCAA, Harvard’s Dean Farris and ASU’s Craig, squared off in the 200 free.  Farris jumped out to the lead early and maintained it all the way through, winning 1:36.72 to Craig’s 1:38.32.

Next, ASU got their first win, as Zachary Poti taking took the 100 back in 47.82; Christian Lorenz then made it two in a row for the Sun Devils with a 54.94 in the 100 breast.  Harvard followed ASU’s back-to-back wins by taking the final two events before the break: first, Michael Zarian won the 200 fly in 1:50:15; next, Harvard swept the top three spots in the 50 free, led by Tan’s 20.26.

The first event after the break featured the second head-to-head show down of the night between Farris and Craig, and once again, it was the Harvard sophomore was victorious.  Farris was about two-tenths of a second faster than Craig on both halves the race, giving him the victory in 43.96 to Craig’s 44.34.

It was a battle throughout the whole second half of the meet as the two teams alternated victories over the next five events.  Poti completed his sweep of the backstrokes by winning the 200 back by over two seconds, with a time of 1:45.29.  Next up was the 200 breast; Harvard’s Daniel Chang jumped out to an early lead, and Lorenz looked to be running him down over the final 50, as he outsplit Chang by over two seconds.  But it just wasn’t quite enough, as Chang held on to win, 1:58.67 to 1:58.69.

Benjamin Olszweski picked up the win for ASU in the 500 free, with a time of 4:26.68, then Tan earned his second individual win of the meet with a 47.64 in the 100 fly.  Grant House won the 200 IM for ASU in 1:47.97 and Sun Devil diver Youseff Selim swept the two diving events, meaning that that the 400 free relay would determine the overall winner for the meet.

Fans were deprived of a third head-to-head race between Craig and Farris, as the former was leading off the 400 free relay, while the lattter was anchoring.

Craig opened up the relay by matching the 43.96 Farris had won the individual 100 free with earlier, and the Sun Devils kept the lead heading into the final leg.  Enter Dean Farris.  He dove in with Harvard about a second a half behind, but blasted a 42.91 split to give the Crimson the victory, 2:58.20 to 2:58.70.

Arizona State Recap

TEMPE, Ariz. – In the first meet of 2018 following winter training, Harvard jumped out to an early lead and capitalized throughout en route to a 155-143 win. The No. 10 Sun Devil men won seven events on the meet.

Zach Poti won two events (100 back, 200 back), achieving B cuts in both, while Christian Lorenz touched first and second in the 100 and 200 breast, respectively, also both NCAA B cuts.

The Devils went 1-2 in both the 100 back and 100 breast, with Reid Elliott and Danny Comforti finishing second.

Grant House won the 200 IM while Ben Olszewski earned a first-place finish in the 500 free due to two Harvard DQ’s.

Youssef Selim earned his highest 1-meter dive of the season (389.25), also the team’s highest, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter. Heikki Makikallio finished second in the 1-meter.

The Sun Devil women next compete at Washington State on Saturday, Jan. 13 while the men and women have back-to-back tests at Cal and Stanford Jan. 19-20.

Harvard Recap

TEMPE, Ariz. – Opening up the 2018 calendar year, the men’s swimming and diving team captured nine of 16 events to finish against No. 10 Arizona State on Saturday afternoon.

The Crimson set the tone of the meet early in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Sophomore Dean Farris, senior Steven Tan, junior Sebastian Lutz, and senior Paul O’Hara edged out the Sun Devil foursome by a second to finish first with a time of 1:28.64.

Juniors Brennan Novak and Logan Houck claimed top two spots in the 1,000-yard freestyle, touching the wall with times of 9:03.25 and 9:10.66, respectively. Sophomore Zach Snyder was not far off the pace, finishing fourth and earning two points for the Crimson with a time of 9:24.75.

Earning two first place finishes on the day, Tan led the charge in the 50-yard freestyle, touching the wall with a time of 20.26 as the Crimson swept the top three spots. Fellow senior Ed Kim followed up with a time of 20.58, while O’Hara was on his tail .6 seconds behind – 20.64.

Later in the meet in the 100-yard butterfly, Tan claimed his second first place finish, touching the wall with a time of 47.64. The Illinois senior was one of two Crimson swimmers to earn first place finishes in two events on the afternoon. Farris was the second swimmer, finishing first in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle with a time of 43.96 and 1:36.72, respectively.

Sophomore Daniel Chang clipped a second off his best time of the season in the 200-yard breaststroke to finish first with a time of 1:58.67. Freshman Michael Zarian rounded out the five first place finishes for the Crimson, finishing first in the 200-yard butterfly, posting a time of 1:50.15.

Harvard’s 400-yard freestyle relay squad of Ed Kim, Tan, Mahlon Reihman, and Farris bested the Sun Devils to by .5 seconds to finish first with a time of 2:58.20. The Crimson foursome of Raphael Marcoux, O’Hara, Sebastian Lutz, and Levente Bathory claimed fourth with a time o 3:06.25.

Senior Bobby Ross led Harvard divers in both the three-meter and one-meter dives. In the three-meter, Ross finished second earning 357.30 points, while posting a third place finish in the one-meter dive finishing with 326.70 points.

Harvard Highlights:

• Five Crimson swimmers earned first place finishes – Tan and Farris led the way with two each.
• Tan posted first place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle (20.26) and 100-yard butterfly (47.64).
• Chang finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in 1:58.67.

What’s Next
Harvard opens Ivy League action with a tri-meet against Brown and Penn in Providence at noon.