Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Big Al Open
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Women's Swimming/Diving Gets Pair Of A's In Big Al Opener
December 01, 2007 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Finals may still be more than a month away, but the Princeton women's swimming and diving team picked up a pair of A's in the first finals session of the 2007 Big Al Open. Sophomores Alicia Aemisegger and Courtney Kilkuts both recorded NCAA A-cut swims to help Princeton to a second-place finish after the first day. No. 11 Penn State leads the overall meet with two days remaining at DeNunzio Pool.
The highly ranked Nittany Lions lead the overall field with 329 points, while Princeton holds a slim 188-176 edge over Pittsburgh for second place. Washington State stands fourth with 143 points, while the second-best Ivy team was Columbia with 92 points.
The opening event was the 200 free relay, where the Princeton team of Megan Waters, Justina DiFazio, Emily Trautner and Lisa Hamming placed third in a time of 1:35.42. The first individual event went to Aemisegger, who won the 500 free by more than six seconds and beat the NCAA A-cut time by more than four seconds. The 2007 NCAA bronze medalist in the 500, Aemisegger won in a time of 4:41.38, breaking the DeNunzio Pool record of Tennessee's Leslie Nix. Princeton also got Ellen Gray (seventh, 4:52.81) and Meredith Monroe (eighth, 4:53.05) into the championship final.
Kilkuts followed Aemisegger's NCAA swim with one of her own. She beat the A-cut time in the 200 IM by more than one second and finished in a time of 1:59.10. Amazingly, it wasn't enough to win a terrific final, as Penn State's Kaitlin O'Brien also had an A-cut swim to win in 1:58.88. Hamming took seventh in 2:05.19.
Waters and DiFazio both made the finals of the 50 free, and Waters led the way with a fifth-place finish (23.81). DiFazio, a multiple-time first-team All-Ivy swimmer, finished seventh in 24.09. Freshman diver Carolyn Littlefield took 10th in the three-meter diving competition with 213.95 points, and the team of Julie Kochman, Hamming, Monika Friedman and Waters finished seventh in the 400 medley relay in 3:53.76.
"Courtney is going to NCAAs, which is awesome," head coach Susan Teeter said. "Alicia broke the pool record in the 500 free. It was a great swim, and for this time of year, that's awesome, and Ellen Gray had a lifetime best swim. We're swimming really well right now."
Saturday's preliminary session will begin at 11 a.m., and the finals will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday's event schedule looks like this:
11 - W 200 med. relay
12 - M 200 med. relay
13 - W 400 IM
14 - M 400 IM
15 - W 100 fly
16 - M 100 fly
17 - W 200 free
18 - M 200 free
19 - W 100 breast
20 - M 100 breast
21 - W 100 back
22 - M 100 back
(break)
23 - W 800 free relay
24 - M 800 free relay