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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Seniors, Superb Freshman Lead Women's Swimming/Diving To 2-0 Ivy Start
November 19, 2006 | Women's Swimming and Diving
The No. 25 Princeton women's swimming and diving team opened defense of its 2006 Ivy League championship with a pair of victories over both Penn (157-138) and Cornell (212-83) Saturday afternoon in Ithaca, N.Y. While a collection of seniors provided solid performances and sophomore Katie Giarra had a strong day on the diving board, the highlight performances against came from freshman Alicia Aemisegger, who set two more Princeton records in the sweep.
Princeton improved to 4-1 on the season with a 212-83 win over host Cornell and a 157-138 win over Penn.
Aemisegger destroyed the field in the 400 IM, setting a Princeton and pool record in 4:11.52, more than 18 seconds faster than any other swimmer in the event. Her time, an NCAA 'A' cut time, bested her own school record, which she had already set twice in her first two collegiate swims. Princeton's depth was evident in the event, as Lisa Hamming (4:29.56), Aurora Lee (4:33.59) and Alex Wiley (4:35.90) placed 2-3-4.
Aemisegger won the next individual event, the 200 free, in 1:51.85, but Penn would make the meet interesting with five straight wins to follow. The Tigers stayed in control, though, with several second- and third-place finishes, including runner-up performances from Kelly Hannigan in the 100 back (58.79), Courtney Kilkuts in the 100 breast (1:07.27) and Brett Shiflett in the 200 fly (2:07.07).
Justina DiFazio got Princeton back into the win column by claiming the 100 free, an event she placed second in at the Ivy League championships last season, in 52.06. Hamming claimed the 200 breast in 2:23.10, edging freshman teammate Karina Silvester, who took second in 2:25.27. Senior Erica Pang placed third in 2:28.23.
Distance free standout Ellen Gray claimed the 500 free in style, finishing ahead of teammate Lee with a time of 5:00.25. Lee took second in 5:05.74; performances from Lee, Kilkuts and Silvester show that the Tigers will get strong performances from freshmen besides Aemisegger. They just might not be as spectacular, as the local standout from Germantown Academy later topped the school record in the 200 IM with a time of 2:00.10, although it didn't count to the overall team scoring.
Hannigan edged out DiFazio in the 100 fly with a winning time of 58.02, less than .2 seconds faster than her teammate. The final individual win came on the 1-meter board, where Giarra's score of 278.70 was more than 40 points ahead of second-place teammate Emily Weigand's score of 233.80. No other diver was within 50 points of Giarra, who also claimed second in the 3-meter diving competition. Giarra finished in the Top 5 in both competitions in the 2006 Ivy Championships and looks like she is in for another strong season.
Princeton also claimed a win in the 200 medley relay, as Hannigan, Aemisegger, DiFazio and Sobenna George put together a winning time of 1:46.99.
Princeton will be off Thanksgiving weekend and will make their home debut during the first weekend of December at the Big Al Invitational.