Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Day Two
Players Mentioned
Waters, Kropp Earn Opening Weekend Victory For Women's Swimming
November 13, 2010 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Senior Megan Waters and freshman Andrea Kropp picked up individual wins for the Princeton women's swimming and diving team at the season-opening UVA Fall Invitational, held this weekend at the University of Virginia.
Princeton opened the weekend with a third-place finish in the 200 free relay. With Waters leading the charge, Princeton topped Virginia Tech in a time of 1:35.25. Waters led off a team that included freshman Lisa Boyce, sophomore Carter Stephens and junior Jillian Altenburger. The Tiger 'B' team of Laura Slater, Kerry Gruendel, Laura Loughran and Ming Ong placed sixth overall in 1:38.96.
The first individual event was the 500 free, and junior Aislinn Smalling was Princeton's top finisher, placing ninth in 4:58.36. Ong took 11th in 4:59.52.
Kropp was coming a brilliant summer, including a victory at Junior Nationals and a fifth-place finish at the U.S. Nationals. She made her first individual swim for Princeton an impressive one, winning the 200 IM in 2:02.30. With the graduation of four-time Ivy League 200 IM champion Courtney Kilkuts, Kropp could be a top contender for that title when the 2011 championships come to DeNunzio Pool.
The Tigers also got a fourth-place finish from sophomore Sarah Furgatch, who finished in 2:05.99.
Waters, one of the top sprinters in program history, placed second in the 50 free in 23.37 seconds, while Stephens took 10th in 24.28. Waters and Stephens then teamed up to help Princeton to a third-place finish in the 400 medley relay. Joining Boyce and Kropp, the Tigers finished in 3:50.42.
The Princeton foursome of Boyce, Furgatch, Stephens and Waters opened the second session with a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay; Princeton finished in 1:45.83, less than a half second behind Virginia Tech for third. Furgatch followed up with an eighth-place finish in the 400 IM with a time of 4:27.60.
Waters picked up Princeton's second individual win with an exciting victory in the 100 fly over Virginia's Liz Shaw. Waters won the event in 55.46, less than .3 of a second ahead of Shaw. Stephens rallied to finish third overall in 55.70, while Kropp took fifth in 56.91.
Smalling and Ong were Princeton's top performers in the 200 free; Smalling took seventh in 1:52.67, while Ong placed 10th in 1:53.05.
Princeton had three juniors in the Top 10 of the 100 breast. Caitlin Baran led the trio with a seventh-place finish (1:08.53), while Gruendel placed eighth in 1:08.54. Hannah Cody rounded out the Top 10 by finishing 10th in 1:09.52.
Freshman Karen Wang led the Tigers in the 100 back, placing fourth overall in 57.42. Waters added an 11th-place finish in 58.93, while Julie Kochman took 12th in 59.90. Wang then led off a fourth-place effort in the 800 free relay; along with Furgatch, Nicole McAndrew and Kasey Morris, the Tigers finished in 7:40.78.
Wang and Kochman opened Saturday's final session by earning Top 10 finishes in the 100 free. Wang took sixth in 2:04.48, while Kochman finished 10th in 2:07.31.
Waters placed fourth in the 100 free (51.34), while freshman Laura Slater finished 11th in 52.68.
Furgatch made a strong run in the 200 breast, placing second in 2:20.21. She gained ground on Virginia's Anne Sum Myers over the final 100 and got within a quarter of a second, but Furgatch did a nice job holding off Keri Sink to hold on to second place.
Kropp finished third in the 200 fly in a time of 2:02.80, while Stephens placed 10th in 2:08.51. Stephens followed by anchoring the third-place Princeton 400 free relay to a time of 3:30.29. Waters, Slater and Boyce joined Stephens to help Princeton hold off Virginia Tech by less than one second.
Freshman Maureen McCotter was Princeton's top finisher in the 1650, placing sixth in 17:03.37. Ong finished eighth in 17:15.41, while Smalling finished 11th in 17:33.42.
In the diving competitions, Princeton junior Christina Kirkwood finished third in the 1-meter event with a score of 237.45. A pair of freshmen also jumped into the Top 10; Randi Brown placed eighth with 207 points, while Emily Kaplan finished ninth with 203 points.
Sophomore Bryna Tsai, Princeton's returning All-America from 2010, finished fourth in the 3-meter competition with 235.35 points. Tsai was an All-America in the platform competition, but she has proven to be a strong competitor off both boards. Sophomore Katelyn Perry placed eighth with 220.55 points, while senior Carolyn Littlefield took ninth with 219.70 points. Freshman Rachel Zambrowicz rounded out the Top 10 with a score of 201.15.
Princeton, the reigning Ivy League champion, will open its 2010-11 Ivy League schedule next weekend when it heads to Ithaca to compete with both Cornell and Penn.