CAMBRIDGE – One of the closest Ivy League Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships of all time ended with the Princeton Women’s Swimming winning their 22nd title in program history.
Princeton’s 21½ -point margin over Harvard was the closest between first and second place finishers since the Tigers edged the Crimson in 2004 by 15 ½ points. Yale’s 1,377 points are the most by a third-place finisher in over a decade.
The race for the title came down to the final event, the 400-meter freestyle relay, and the Tigers were more than up for the task. The team of juniors Nikki Larson and Elizabeth McDonald, and freshmen Claire McImail and Maddy Veith set a new meet and pool record with the time of 3:18.25.
Harvard and Yale were stride for stride with the Tigers all three days, but the tide turned when sophomore Caitlin Chambers set a pool record on her way to winning the three-meter dive with the score of 360.55. Chambers swept the diving events at the Championships and won the Diver of the Meet award.
Harvard again had a strong showing in the backstroke, finishing one-two in the 200-yard. Junior Danielle Lee, who won the 100-meter back, edged her teammate Kendall Crawford to take the 200 title.
The Crimson had seven top-three finishes on the day. Freshman Geordie Enoch won two finals and had three top-three finishes in the championships (two as a part of a relay) to earn her the Swimmer of the Meet award.
Yale had perhaps the best highlight of the day during the grueling 1650-meter freestyle. Junior Eva Fabien and freshman Cailley Silbert were neck and neck the entire way, and finished with an improbable tie. When the times reached the scoreboard, supporters from every team rose from their seats to give a standing ovation.
Other highlights from day three included Brown junior Gina Matsumoto’s burst in the final 25 yards of the 200-yard fly to win and the Bulldogs’ freshman Paulina Kaminski surge in the final 100 yards en route to winning her the 200-yard breaststroke.
Team Scores
[table “” not found /]The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World. To reach our audience, contact us at newsmaster@swimmingworld.com.
some events in yards and some in meters?