Ivy League Championships: Princeton Leads After Day One

PRINCETON, New Jersey, February 28. SOPHOMORES Alicia Aemisegger and Courtney Kilkuts were individual winners Thursday night as the No. 18 Princeton women's swimming and diving team built a strong lead after the first day of the 2008 Ivy League Championships. The two-time defending league champions lead Harvard by 40.5 points after winning three events and placing second five times in six events.

Princeton leads the field with 521.5 points, while Harvard is second with 481 points. Columbia is third with 281 points, more than 40 points ahead of Penn. The Tigers, winning of seven of the last eight Ivy titles, will look to build on that lead during Friday's championship session, which will begin at 6 p.m. Friday's order of events will be the 200 medley relay, 1000 free, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 3-meter diving consolations and the 800 free relay.

The Crimson took the first event of the evening by rallying to win the 200 free relay in 1:33.14. Trailing going into the final 50 yards, Harvard senior Amanda Slaight went 22.88 to touch the wall first. The Princeton tandem of Megan Waters, Justina DiFazio, Emily Trautner and Lisa Hamming finished just off the pace in 1:33.21, but that time was more than a second faster than the rest of the field and put the Tigers in second place.

They wouldn't stay there long. With five swimmers in the 500 free relay championship final, Princeton was poised to make its move. When the Tigers posted a 1-2-3 finish, that move was made. Aemisegger won in a DeNunzio-record time of 4:40.45 to win her fourth career Ivy championship in as many attempts. Senior Brett Shiflett earned a trip to the NCAA championships with an A-cut time of 4:44.34 and finished second, while Tiger freshman Nicole McAndrew placed third in 4:49.84. Senior Ellen Gray placed fifth in 4:52.25, while freshman Meredith Monroe took seventh in 4:54.56.

Kilkuts followed up by defending her 2007 200 IM Ivy title with a victory in 1:59.70. That was an A-cut time for Kilkuts, although she had already posted a Princeton-record time of 1:59.10 in the Big Al Open. Kilkuts left the field during the second stroke, the breast, but she was chased by teammate Hamming over the final 100 yards. One of Princeton's most consistent Ivy scorers throughout her career, Hamming cut into Kilkuts' lead during the fly and free strokes, but the Tiger sophomore kept her edge and won. Hamming finished second with a B-cut time of 2:00.76.

Harvard freshman Katy Hinkle won the 50 free in 23.18, topping Columbia junior Hannah Galey's time of 23.26. Princeton picked up solid points with three finalists in the event. DiFazio placed third in 23.42, Waters placed sixth in 23.71 and Trautner finished seventh in 23.74.

Princeton and Harvard placed seven of the eight championship finalists in the 1-meter diving competition. While Harvard senior Samantha Papadakis won the competition with 297.15 points, the Tigers had an edge with four finalists. Junior Katie Giarra, the 2007 Ivy League Championships Diver of the meet, finished second with 288.15 points, while classmate Peggy Kearns finished fourth with 261.90 points. Senior Gayle Rudofsky finished seventh with 240.10 points, while classmate Charlotte Jones placed eighth with 233.65 points.

Princeton finished the exciting evening with a convincing win in the 400 medley relay. The team of Monroe, Aemisegger, DiFazio and Shiflett topped the Columbia foursome with a B-cut and Princeton-record time of 3:42.72. Monroe topped every opponent outside of Penn's leadoff swimmer, but Aemisegger gave Princeton a one-second lead by finishing the breast stroke in 1:00.70. DiFazio and Shiflett finished the job to ensure a Princeton lead heading into Friday's session.

Special thanks to Princeton for contributing to this report.

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