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Surpassed Expectations Leads Women's Swimming/Diving To Sweep Of Harvard, Yale
February 03, 2007 | Women's Swimming and Diving
In a weekend meet that head coach Susan Teeter said "went 100 percent better than we could have imagined," the Princeton women's swimming and diving completed a perfect Ivy League regular season by sweeping Harvard and Yale this weekend at DeNunzio Pool, site of the 2007 Ivy League Championships in two weeks. Princeton defeated Harvard 174-145 in a matchup of the two favorites for those league championships, and the Tigers defeated Yale 192-127.
"A lot of people who ended their season today had great meets," a thrilled Teeter said minutes after the meet. "And the people who have to taper still and will swim in Ivies gave us lifetime swims today. It was a great overall performance this weekend."
Just as they did when they topped Harvard for the 2006 Ivy League title, Princeton jumped out to a lead after the first day of the two-session competition. Following a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay to Yale, freshman Alicia Aemisegger got the individual events off to a good start with a pool record time of 9:47.14 to win the 1000 free. Junior Ellen Gray, whose heroic distance performances helped push Princeton to the Ivy title last season, added a third-place time of 9:55.21, while freshman Aurora Lee placed fourth in 10:04.34.
Sophomore Justina DiFazio followed Aemisegger's win with a victory in the 200 free. DiFazio took the event in 1:50.46, edging out Yale's Jane Kim by .06 of a second for the win. Both teams would make up points in the 100 back, as the top Princeton finisher, Rebecca Nyquist (59.38) placed sixth overall.
Senior Kelly Hannigan finished second in the 100 breast to Harvard's Jaclyn Pangilinan, but Aemisegger came right back to top Harvard's Noelle Bassi in the 200 fly. Aemisegger's winning time of 2:00.69 was an NCAA B-cut time, and it helped Princeton regain momentum in the meet. Senior Sobenna George built on that with an exciting win in the 50 free. The Tiger veteran finished in 23.77, edging out to Yale swimmers by less than .3 of a second.
Harvard's Samantha Papadakis won the 1-meter diving competition with 291.00 points, but Princeton left with plenty of points in its pocket following the event. Katie Giarra (271.10), Michelle DeMond (267.55), Peggy Kearns (261.45) and Charlotte Jones (245.25) placed 2-3-4-5 in the event, proving once again that diving depth was going to be a Princeton advantage in the Ivy championships.
The first session concluded with junior Lisa Hamming's winning time of 4:23.83 in the 400 IM. Hannigan placed second in 4:24.82, and Princeton left Friday night with leads over both Harvard and Yale. Still, Teeter knew there was plenty of work to be done.
"I knew it was going to go all the way down to the relays," she said. "I was concerned about the 100 free, but we ended up swimming it great. That was a big lift."
DiFazio won the 100 free, Saturday's first event, in 50.93, and Kristen Arey, George and Suzanne Rossi topped any other Harvard swimmer in the event. Arey placed third overall in the event in a time of 51.69, falling only to DiFazio and Yale's Kim.
Nyquist placed fifth overall in the 200 back (2:05.83), but once again Aemisegger was there to make sure any loss of momentum would be brief. She won the 200 breast in 2:14.89 for her third win of the weekend.
Lee (4:56.10) and Gray (4:58.63) placed third and fourth in the 500 free, and DiFazio followed with a third-place finish in the 100 fly (56.68).
The one-meter diving competition was once again dominated by the Princeton depth, except that a Tiger diver ended this one on top. A strong performance by Giarra (327.05) was good enough to win the event, while Kearns, DeMond and Jones placed 3-4-5.
Hamming won the final individual event of the day, the 200 IM, in 2:04.25, while Hannigan placed second again in 2:04.90. The competition ended with the 400 free relay, which Yale won and Princeton placed third.
While the win was exciting, Princeton knows better than anybody that it doesn't guarantee anything for the Ivy championships. Last season, Princeton lost to Harvard and came back to win the title. Teeter knows that her competitors will be ready.
"I think it's going to come down to the end once again," she said. "It's exciting that it will be here at DeNunzio. We think we have the best facility in the East."