Princeton Takes Lead at Ivy League Championships

PRINCETON, New Jersey, February 15. IN its home venue, DeNunzio Pool, the No. 23 Princeton women’s swimming and diving team won three of four individual events and sprinted to a significant lead over second-place Harvard and third-place Yale to open the 2007 Ivy championships.

Princeton leads the competition with 497 points, while Harvard holds a slim second-place edge over Yale with 358 points, to the Bulldogs’ 356.5. Penn is fourth with 284 points.

While Princeton stepped ahead of Harvard after one event, it was Yale who actually held the immediate lead by winning the 200 free relay in 1:33.12. Princeton topped Harvard for second in 1:34.08; the relay team of Sobenna George, Justina DiFazio, Kristen Arey and Lisa Hamming topped the Crimson relay team by less than half of a second.

From there, the top of the medal stand took a distinctive Orange and Black feel. It started with the first individual event, the 500 free, and it was won by Ivy League freshman sensation Alicia Aemisegger. The Germantown Academy graduate won in a meet record time of 4:43.50, nearly four full seconds faster than Harvard freshman Alexandra Clarke. Of course, a championship team isn’t formed simply by event winners; instead, it was Princeton’s ability to put multiple swimmers in the event finals, and then for those competitors to place high, that allowed Princeton to sleep Thursday with such a significant lead. Junior Ellen Gray, the hero of the 2006 Ivy championships, placed sixth in the 500 free in a time of 4:55.36.

Aemisegger’s classmate, Courtney Kilkuts, gave the Class of 2010 a second victory by claiming the 200 IM in 2:01.54. Senior teammate Kelly Hanngian picked up a third-place finish in 2:02.74, while junior Lisa Hamming claimed sixth in 2:05.17.

Even when Princeton didn’t win an event, it did well in scoring big points towards the overall title. Yale’s Meg Gill won the 50 free in 23.08, but Princeton grabbed the next two spots. DiFazio placed second in 23.49, while George claimed third in 23.53. Both times beat the lone Harvard finalist, Amanda Slaight, and the Tiger lead was about to grow significantly more as the focus turned towards the 1-meter diving board.

Princeton dominated the boards in 2006, and things were no different to begin 2007. Sophomore Katie Giarra won the competition with an Ivy meet record of 307.00 points, while senior teammate Michelle DeMond took third (268.55) and sophomore Shelby Rudd took fourth (268.30). In one event, Princeton picked up 72 points on Harvard and 96 points on Yale.

The Crimson picked up its lone win of the night in the 400 medley relay, while Princeton picked up a third-place finish in 3:46.13. The team of Hannigan, Aemisegger, DiFazio and Arey pushed Princeton to it’s night-ending total of 497 points.

Friday’s preliminaries will begin at 11 a.m., and the finals will begin at 6 p.m. The second-session events will be the 200 medley relay, the 1000 free, the 400 IM, the 100 fly, the 200 free, the 100 breast, the 100 back, the 3-meter diving consolation finals and the 800 free relay. Thursday’s complete results, as well as Friday’s event schedule and heat sheets, can be found on the above link.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x