Woori Lee
From January 27-29, the annual HYP (Harvard-Yale-Princeton) took place at the Blodgett Pool in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This long lasting rivalry between the top Ivy League schools in the nation always marks a spectacle to look forward to. On both the men’s and women’s side, the competitive threshold did not disappoint as all teams clashed to come out on top.
On January 27th and 28th, all three men’s swimming and diving teams fought for the title. Even though Harvard had the home-field advantage, Princeton’s team was very close to snatching the trophy. Their performance was a standout, especially because Harvard has won for the last five years. Yale, however, was far more distant from victory, as the other two teams left them in the dust. Overall, Harvard’s close win rested on their wins of all four relays, in which they picked up huge gains in points. This portrayed Harvard’s all-around speed throughout their entire roster. Yale also had a few key swimmers who shone during the competition, such as sophomore Noah Millard. Millard earned maximum points for his individual events in the 200 free (1:34.38), 400 IM (3:48.94), and 500 free (4:19.28). Even with Millard’s amazing performance, the competition was still mainly between Harvard and Princeton. Harvard's junior Marcus Holmquist’s crazy anchor split of 42.74 set the stage for their dominance and propelled them to their win. On the diving side, Taso Callanan, one of two twins on Princeton’s team, won the 3m event with 355.30 points. On the other hand, Adam Wesson of Harvard finished ahead of Yale’s Aidan Thomas with 337.95 points. Overall, Harvard barely beat out Princeton 181-172 and Yale 239-113. Princeton gained victory over Yale 231-122.
On the women’s side, the competition lasted from January 28-29. This time, Yale pulled away from the rest with their second straight victory in the three-way dual meet. Their win streak is now an impressive 7-0. Key components to their triumph included a 100 freestyle galore, with second to fifth in the event all being taken up by Yale women. Sophomore Ava Franks ultimately propelled Yales into the lead before they finished it off in the 400 freestyle relay, demolishing the field by two seconds (3:18.33). Diver Gloria Lai also added a win in the 3-meter diving with 308.20 points. This three-way dual meet surely lived up to the expectations of the men’s competition as Yale women eked out a close victory.
With a glimpse into the competitive ivy league swimming scene, we can look forward to the Ivy League Championships held at Brown University’s aquatics center, which starts on February 22nd.