2023 Scarlet Summer Blast
- June 10-11, 2023
- Piscataway, New Jersey
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results on MeetMobile: “2023 Scarlet Summer Blast”
Scarlet Aquatics hosted the 2023 Scarlet Summer Blast meet earlier this month in Piscataway, New Jersey. The two-day long meet was short course yards and ran in the timed finals format.
17-year-old Eric Lee from Scarlet Aquatics had a phenomenal meet. The Harvard recruit threw down a time of 3:49.01 in the 400 IM, marking a best time by nearly a second. Later in the meet he completed his IM sweep with a best time by over a second in the 200, swimming a 1:46.66 to clear the field by nearly four seconds.
With over a year to go before arriving in Cambridge, Lee’s time in the 400 IM already would have made him the fastest performer at Harvard this season by over six seconds. He also would have been 3rd-fastest in the 200 IM, with Gunner Grant and Jared Simpson leading the team with season best times of 1:44.39 and 1:44.97, respectively.
Lee’s teammate Chloe Kim had a strong performance in the 200 freestyle. Kim, 15, dropped just under a second from November to post a time of 1:48.70. She also neared her best times in the IM events, swimming a 2:01.06 in the 200 and a 4:14.95 in the 400.
Other standout swimmers on the boys’ side of the meet included 15-year-old Timothy Lee and 17-year-old Richard Poplawski, both from Scarlet Aquatics. Lee set a total of five personal best times, highlighted by his swims in the mid-distance freestyle events. He dropped over two seconds in the 500 free (4:32.12) and a few tenths in the 200 (1:40.81), finishing 2nd in both.
Poplawski, who is also set to join Lee at Harvard in 2024, clocked a season best time of 1:50.78 en route to winning the 200 fly. Additionally, he captured victories in the 100 free (45.92), 200 free (1:40.14), and 100 fly (50.02).
15-year-old Iris Kim, also representing Scarlet Aquatics, was another swimmer to set a slew of personal best times as she picked up three victories. Kim knocked over two seconds off her previous best in the 500 to record a time of 4:50.47, moving her to 14th this season among 15-year-olds. She also shaved off over a second in the 200 fly (2:06.05), a few tenths in the 200 free (1:49.37), and about a second in the 100 fly (56.84).
I cook this man in basketball daily.
Awesome grab for Harvard. I don’t mean to undermine Lee’s accomplishment, but Harvard definitely had an off year in the 4IM. The program is historically a lot better than a 3:55.