“The last day we had three divers in the finals at night and they dominated; it was huge,” Powell says.  “[Rea] placed second and the second we won the race that tipped the boat meaning we were automatically going to win was the best moment.”

Two weeks after the team’s season ended, Rea and sophomores Alex Stanton and Schuyler Moore traveled to Buffalo, N.Y. for the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships.  The Crimson failed to advance to the national meet, which required a first place finish at the Zone A meet.  Rea ranked highest of the Harvard divers, finishing 11th in the one-meter dive after competing in the finals and 21st in the three-meter dive.

Meanwhile, Leddy and freshman Courtney Otto were invited to compete in the NCAA championship swim meet in Auburn, Ala.  Despite posting solid times in their events, the women failed to make it back for the final rounds.  Otto finished 54th in the 500 freestyle, 30th in the 400 IM, and 24th in the 200 butterfly, a mere .62 seconds out of the finals.  Leddy placed 42nd in the 200 backstroke and 59th in the 100 backstroke, clocking in at 55.72, only .56 seconds off of the school record.

Harvard looks to train hard for next season in hopes of earning a second consecutive Ivy League title.

“I think the two classes that really stepped up this year were the freshman and sophomore classes, so they’ll be getting into more leadership roles this year,” Leddy says.  “I think they’ll be able to take the team and keep it going and hopefully do back-to-back championships.”

—Staff writer Chelsea Gilbert can be reached at cgilbert@college.harvard.edu.