Junior Tim Martin's time of 14:58.38 in the 1650 freestyle not only made history, but also earned him a fifth-place finish at the NCAAs, and All-America honors for the third consecutive season. Photo by Tim Morse.

Harvard junior Tim Martin made Harvard men's swimming and diving history at the NCAA Championships held in Indianapolis March 26-28 by breaking Bobby Hackett's 21-year-old record in the 1650 freestyle. Martin's time of 14:58.38 not only eclipsed Hackett's previous mark of 14:59.98 set in 1979, but it also earned the Crimson junior a fifth-place finish at the NCAAs and All-America honors for the third consecutive season.

Martin, who was coming off convincing victories in the 1000 and 1650 freestyle events at the 1999 EISL Championships two weeks prior, finished fifth at last year's NCAAs in the 1650 freestyle and entered the 1999 season as the Crimson's second-fastest distance freestyler in school history behind Hackett '79, who put an indelible stamp on the Harvard swimming and diving annals for capturing a silver medal in the 1500 freestyle at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal.

This season Martin finished less than 24 seconds behind champion Ryk Neethling of Arizona (14:35.57), while Michigan's duo of Chris Thompson and Tim Siciliano as well as Arizona's Nat Lewis touched in just ahead of Martin to close out the top five finishers in the event.

Heading into the NCAAs, Martin's career best was a 15:00.75 set at last year's Championships. In addition to his Harvard- best finish in the 1650 freestyle, Martin also placed 11th in the 500 freestyle to earn Honorable Mention All-America honors with a time of 4:21.73, the fourth-fastest time ever posted by a Crimson swimmer.

Senior captain Greg Wriede was Harvard's other top competitor at the NCAA Championships this year as he collected 13th place in the 400 individual medley (IM) with a time of 3:52.09. Wriede had made waves at the 1999 EISL Championships when he delivered first-place performances in the 200 IM and 400 IM as well as a second-place in the 200 backstroke.

The Crimson, who placed 11th in team scoring at the 1998 NCAAs, finished in a tie with University of California, Santa Barbara, for 24th place this season.