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Perfect Record, Top-20 NCAA Finish Highlight Record-Setting 08-09 Women's Swim/Dive Season
April 01, 2009 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Whether it was rewriting the record board or showing a national audience that more than just the power conferences can compete on the sport's biggest stage, the Princeton women's swimming and diving team completed another brilliant season under veteran head coach Susan Teeter.
The Tigers ran their regular-season winning streak to 24 by sweeping through the Ivy League season. A convincing tri-meet win over Penn and Cornell got the run off on a good note, and Princeton followed it up with a victory over Brown during the annual Big Al Open meet. That meet also featured a pair of Princeton record-setting swims, as well as a pair of DeNunzio record-setting swims. Sophomore Megan Waters broke the 50 free record by going 22.83; Waters is the only Princeton woman to ever go under 23 seconds in the 50.
The rest of the records would go to junior Alicia Aemisegger, who is in the midst of one of the greatest careers in Ivy League history. Aemisegger broke both the Princeton and DeNunzio record by going 1:45.42 in the 200 free, and she broke the DeNunzio record by going 1:55.85 in the 200 fly. By season's end, Aemisegger would own seven of the 14 individual Princeton records and be part of four of the five Princeton relay records.
Princeton returned from winter break with a 200-95 victory over Dartmouth in the home finale. The Tigers honored a senior class that helped Princeton to a trio of Ivy League titles and the historic 2008 season, when the Tigers sent seven swimmers to the NCAA championships.
The annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet took place the last weekend of January, and the Tigers had one of their best performances in years to maintain their perfect record. A weekend that began with a significant number of ill swimmers, including Aemisegger, traveling on the team bus to Harvard ended with a 170-148.5 victory over Harvard and a 209-110 win over Yale. Freshman Jillian Altenburger, one member of a strong freshman class, won both the 200 free and 400 IM, while junior Courtney Kilkuts picked up a win in the 100 breast. Aemisegger and Waters added individual wins, but one of the stories of the weekend belonged to the Tiger divers. Led by senior Katie Giarra, Princeton dominated the boards in both sessions of the tri-meet. The Tigers placed first (Giarra), third (Shelby Rudd), fourth (Courtney Fieldman) and fifth (Christina Kirkwood) on the one-meter board and first (Giarra), third (Carolyn Littlefield) and fourth (Rudd) on the three-meter board.
For Giarra, it was only the start of what would be an amazing two months.
Princeton ended the season with a 156-123 victory over Columbia to complete its perfect regular season. Although a deep Harvard squad would claim the Ivy League team title in late February, there would be plenty of Princeton highlights during the three-day meet. Aemisegger continued her streak of Ivy Championship perfection, winning the 500, 400 IM and 1650 to claim Ivy League Championships Swimmer of the Meet honors; for her career, Aemisegger is a perfect 9-for-9 at the championship meets. Kilkuts maintained her career dominance in the 200 IM, and Princeton set school records in winning both medleys and the 400 free relay.
On the diving board, Giarra swept both the one- and three-meter competitions to win her second Diver of the Meet honors in three seasons. Giarra also swept both competitions in 2007 and returned from injury in 2008 to finish second in both competitions. Her intense rehab this past season paid off as Giarra was on the top podium two more times, and it would pay off again as Giarra placed second at the NCAA Zone A meet to earn her first berth to the NCAA championships in her final season.
A fantastic career by senior co-captain Justina DiFazio was also honored following the championship meet; the multiple-time Ivy champion won the Career Points Leader award.
Both Aemisegger and Giarra made their way to the NCAA Championship meet in College Station, Texas. Aemisegger came into the weekend with seven All-America honors in her career, and she made it double-digits before she left. After earning All-America honorable mention in the 500, Aemisegger reached the championship finals in her last two events. In the 400 IM, she finished fourth nationally with a Princeton record time of 4:02.47; that broke the record of 4:03.19, which Aemisegger set hours earlier in the prelims. On the final day of the championships, Aemisegger set another Princeton record and finished third nationally in a time of 15:50.60; it was the second-best NCAA finish in Princeton women's swimming and diving history, behind only Aemisegger's 400 IM second-place finish in 2007.
Giarra barely missed All-America honors in the one-meter diving competition during the first day of the championships; only the top 16 score, and Giarra finished 17th overall. That left the senior one final chance to earn All-America honors during her career, and she was more than ready for the challenge. She qualified for the consolation finals during the preliminary competition and moved up one spot to 11th overall by scoring 313.05 in her last series of dives. The performance earned Giarra All-America honorable mention and helped Princeton to an 18th-place finish in the field. It was the highest finish for any non-scholarship program and the second-highest finish for any non-BCS school.
Once again, the Tigers made sure they made an impact outside of competitions as well. To read the Daily Princetonian feature about the “SPLASH: Swim Safe Week,” click here.