Blake Conway won both backstroke races as Cornell men’s swimming and diving opened its season with losses to Harvard and Penn on Friday and Saturday at Teagle Pool in Ithaca.
The Big Red lost 204-96 to Harvard and 189-111 to Penn in the separately scored dual meets, starting 0-2 overall and in Ivy League competition. Harvard beat Penn 181-119 in the other matchup, with diving held Friday and swimming Saturday.
Conway wins both backstroke races
Conway, a senior, won the 100-yard backstroke in 47.98 seconds, ahead of Penn’s Jeffrey Hou in 48.34. Cornell freshman Nate Yoon finished in 48.68 and junior Gabe Anagnoson in 48.74, giving the Big Red three of the top four places in the combined field and the top three against Harvard.
Conway completed the sweep with a 1:46.03 in the 200 backstroke. Anagnoson finished third overall in 1:47.55, behind Harvard’s Botond Kovacs in 1:47.27. Conway and Anagnoson took the top two places against Penn.
Reis-Trovillion leads Cornell’s divers
Junior Max Reis-Trovillion scored 291.75 points on the 1-meter board to finish second overall and first against Penn. He also led Cornell on the 3-meter board with 292.10 points, placing fourth overall and second against Penn.
Henry Palmquist scored 288.65 and Peter Buskirk 283.05 on the 3-meter board, finishing directly behind Reis-Trovillion to give Cornell three consecutive places. On the 1-meter board, Buskirk scored 257.60 and Palmquist 256.15.
Xu and Toothman earn individual wins against Ivy opponents
Senior Haihan Xu finished second overall in the 100 breaststroke in 53.66, behind Penn’s Watson Nguyen in 53.00 and ahead of every Harvard swimmer. Freshman Nate Malcolm led Cornell in the 200 breaststroke in 1:59.97, followed by Xu in 2:00.30 and freshman Charles Wang in 2:00.83.
Junior Josh Toothman placed fourth in the combined field in both sprint freestyle races, swimming the 50 in 19.85 and the 100 in 44.54. His 50 freestyle time won the separately scored matchup against Penn.
Sophomore Will Chen finished fourth overall in the 200 freestyle in 1:39.13, taking second against Penn and third against Harvard.
Sophomore Duke Garvin led Cornell in the distance freestyle events, finishing the 1,000 in 9:19.87 and the 500 in 4:32.67. Seniors Julian Correa and Owen Dankert followed him in both races. The three took second through fourth against Penn in the 1,000.
Freshman Jeremy Ting was Cornell’s top finisher in the 200 butterfly in 1:47.25 and the 200 individual medley in 1:49.89, placing sixth overall in each. Chengze Duan led the Big Red in the 100 butterfly in 48.97, followed by Yoon in 49.17.
Anagnoson, Xu, Duan and Toothman finished third overall in the 200 medley relay in 1:27.74, six-hundredths of a second behind Penn’s top relay. Cornell’s top 400 freestyle relay was disqualified in the final event.
Yale and Dartmouth are next in New Haven
Cornell faces Yale and Dartmouth on Nov. 13-14 at Kiphuth Exhibition Pool in New Haven, Connecticut. Diving begins at 4 p.m. Friday, followed by swimming at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Photo: Julia Quinlan/Cornell Athletics.
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