The men’s swimming team took fourth place in a field of six teams with 615 points at the Terrier Invitational at Boston University during Harvard-Yale weekend. It was the first big travel meet of the season and the only meet with preliminaries and finals before the Ivy League Championships in March.

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“It was a great learning experience for us, especially the freshmen,” Chris Luu ’12 said. “Almost everybody had a second swim at night [in the finals round].”

The distance races proved to be the greatest strength for Yale as they were in their dual meet against Columbia earlier this month. Matt Lee ’11 won the 1650-yd freestyle in a time of 15:54.17, followed by his teammates Mikey Bogese ’14 and West Cuthbert ’14 who finished third and eighth respectively. The Bulldogs’ successes come despite the fact that the team saw the Terrier Invite as a training meet and were not as well rested as the other teams.

“It’s always exciting to see our guys in the top heat especially since our guys weren’t shaved and tapered like the other teams,” Lee said. “In the mile, we did a good job. We got up and swam aggressively.”

In the 500-yd freestyle, the Bulldogs put six swimmers in the top 16. Lee, Cuthbert and Bogese finished fourth, sixth and seventh respectively. Mike Dominski ’13 won the ‘B’ final in 4:41.79 to place ninth overall, while teammates Ed Becker ’14 and Danny Clarke ’14 finished 14th and 16th overall.

The Elis had a strong showing in the 200-yd butterfly, placing eight men in the top 24 places. Scott Shinton ’12 led the charge, posting a time of 1:53.67 to nab second place, just ahead of Dominski who finished third in 1:53.88.

“A great surprise was Mike Dominski in the 200 fly,” Luu said. “That’ll be a lot of help to the team in the future.”

Jared Lovett ’13, Jason Choi ’11, Cuthbert, Becker, Robert Dowd ’14 and Clarke all scored points for Yale in the event.

Without standout sprinter Goksu Bicer ’12 who had a conflicting obligation with the Turkish national swim team, the Bulldogs were spread thin in the sprinting events. Captain Kyle Veatch ’11, nonetheless, rose to the occasion and had a busy and successful meet, finishing second in the 100-yd butterfly, third in the 200-yd freestyle, and fifth in the 50-yd and 100-yd freestyle.

“He had a great 100 fly,” Lee said about Veatch’s race. “There are always solid performances from our captain.”

The team’s next meet is at the University of Massachusetts on Dec. 4.