Princeton, Yale vs. Harvard

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, January 31. THE Harvard women's swimming and diving team took the first two spots in three events and showed off its depth in the others on the final day of the HYP meet Saturday afternoon at Blodgett Pool. The Crimson defeated Yale, 232-87, and fell to Princeton, 170.5-148.5.

The Crimson (6-1, 6-1 Ivy League) earned top-two sweeps of the 200-yard backstroke, 100 butterfly and, in the final event of the meet, the 400 free relay. A day after setting a school record in the 200 free, sophomore Kate Mills again led the way, winning the 100 fly and anchoring the victorious 400 free relay squad. Freshman Meghan Leddy took the 200 back.

"Our team did an amazing job," said head coach Stephanie Wriede Morawski, whose team has one dual meet remaining, against Northeastern, before competing at the Ivy League Championships. "I don't think we could be set up any better for the end of the season."

Leddy had the first win for Harvard, taking the 200 back in 2:01.58, while classmate Margaret Fish was second in 2:03.41. Junior Kay Foley placed fourth. Mills later won the 100 fly in 55.52 seconds, just five-hundredths ahead of junior teammate Sophie Morgan.

Harvard's biggest win and the best evidence of its depth, however, came in the 400 free relay. Sophomores Katy Hinkle and Laura Murray, freshman Alicia Lightbourne and Mills finished nearly four seconds ahead of the field in 3:24.89. The Crimson then put an exclamation point on its strong performance in the meet with the second-place showing by sophomores Ali Slack and Holly Furman and rookies Monica Burgos and Fish.

The Crimson earlier showed off its team approach in the 500 free. Even without Mills, the school record-holder, competing the in the event, Harvard earned the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth spots behind Princeton's Alicia Aemisegger. Junior co-captain Alexandra Clarke led the way in 4:50.28, with sophomore Christine Kaufmann less than a second behind. Freshman Catherine Zagroba, junior Katie Faulkner and freshman Kristi Korsberg were next to the wall.

In the final individual event, Pickard, placed second to Courtney Kilkuts of Princeton in 2:04.14. Morgan and Leddy palced fourth and fifth, respectively, while Harvard also had the seventh, eigth ninth finishers.

After the meet, Morawski credited the work of her team's divers, who broke up Princeton's deep diving contingent in the three-meter. Jenny Reese placed second to Princeton's Katie Giarra with 292.55 points, while fellow sophomore Marissa Ash was fifth with 252.45.

Princeton opened the day by taking the top two spots in the 100 freestyle, with Megan Waters winning in 50.30. Harvard took three of the next four places. Hinkle placed third in 51.08, followed by Pickard in fourth and Murray in sixth. Yale's Susan Kim won the 200 breaststroke. Harvard's top finisher was freshman Helen Pitchik in sixth.

The Crimson closes its dual schedule Feb. 13 against the Huskies and seeks its ninth Ivy title Feb. 26-28 at the league meet in East Meadow, N.Y.

Special thanks to Harvard for contributing this report.

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