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Harvard Takes Fourth in Georgia

The Harvard men’s swimming and diving team held its own this past weekend, taking home a solid fourth place finish at the elite Georgia Invitational.

The Crimson flew to the Bulldogs’ home pool in Athens, Ga. this past Friday to match up against three perennial swim powerhouses, including two top-10 teams.

Harvard finished the three-day contest with a score of 558 points, following No. 9 Georgia (1,374 points), No. 4 Florida (758 points), and Denver (743 points).

Freshman Owen Wurzbacher was the star of the meet for the Crimson, taking home Harvard’s only first-place individual event finish of the weekend.

Wurzbacher claimed the 100-yard breaststroke in 56.91, barely edging out Georgia’s Joe Redmon for a meet-best time.

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“We were really pumped up about [Wurzbacher’s race],” freshman Greg Roop said. “It gave us a little bit of momentum and got the ball rolling for the rest of the meet.”

While Wurzbacher’s victory was the only gold taken home by the Crimson, the Harvard men recorded several impressive finishes throughout the contest.

The Crimson started out the weekend strong, with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Freshman Brendan McIntee, Roop, sophomore Niall Janney, and senior Rick McKellar combined for a time of 1:25.94 in the event.

Harvard also placed fifth in the 200-yard medley relay, touching the wall in 1:34.84.

Wurzbacher, junior Douwe Yntema, sophomore Ross Ford, and McKellar made up the Crimson team.

Co-captain Alex Meyer claimed another fifth-place finish for Harvard in the 500-yard freestyle, with a time of 4:28.98. In addition, the Ithaca native, who is known for his impressive distance races, swam a personal-best in the 200-yard freestyle event as the only Harvard competitor to make the championship heat.

The Crimson recorded another fifth-place relay finish, this time in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The team of Yntema, McIntee, sophomore Matt McLean, and senior Mason Brunnick combined for 6:50.26 in the event.

Harvard followed suit in the 400-yard freestyle relay, as the team of Janney, McLean, McIntee, and McKellar claimed fifth in the event. The Crimson swimmers touched the wall in 3:06.88.

Wurzbacher earned additional points for Harvard in the 200-yard breaststroke. The sophomore broke the Crimson’s fifth-place trend, finishing fourth in the event with a time of 2:05.90.

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