Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Day Two
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Players Mentioned
Young Speed Sends Women's Swimming To Big Advantage At Big Al Open
December 05, 2010 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Head coach Susan Teeter believed strongly that the Class of 2014 would provide an immediate and impressive addition to the tradition her program had already built. On Saturday night, Tiger fans at the 2010 Big Al Open got to see it with their own eyes.
The Tigers built upon their lead over second-place Washington State and hold a 203-point advantage through four of six sessions at the Big Al Open. Princeton has scored 806 team points, while Washington State has 603. The rest of the teams are all racing for final positioning; Florida is currently third with 555 points, while Brown is fourth with 304. Rider is fifth with 204 points.
Princeton won three events on the night, two individual and one relay. In all three, a freshman either won the event or provided the majority of the winning relay.
Princeton picked up its second win of the weekend in the first event Saturday night, the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Karen Wang, Andrea Kropp, Lisa Boyce and Megan Waters finished in 1:42.41, more than two seconds faster than the top finisher from Washington State. It had to be a thrilling race for Teeter to watch, considering the first three legs of the relay were swam by freshmen, including two who were primed for wins later in the evening.
Princeton would take two of the top three spots in the event, as the team of Meredith Monroe, Kerry Gruendel, Carter Stephens and Jillian Altenburger finished third in 1:44.72.
One of the top freshman finishers in the 200 medley relay went out and won the 400 IM. Kropp cleared the field to win her first individual event at DeNunzio Pool; her NCAA B-cut time of 4:18.66 was nearly five seconds faster than anybody in the pool. Freshman Rebecca Lewinson took fourth in 4:26.62, while Sarah Furgatch placed fifth in 4:26.99. Yet another freshman, Kasey Morris, placed eighth in 4:40.32.
Stephens picked up a third-place finish in the 100 fly with a time of 55.40, while sophomore Kathy Qu took seventh in 56.48. Boyce continued her strong weekend with another championship final and placed eighth in 56.58.
Junior Aislinn Smalling took fifth in a tightly packed 200 free final (1:50.41), while senior co-captain Ming Ong (1:52.00) and Altenburger (1:53.07) placed seventh and eighth, respectively.
Princeton had three of the top seven in the 100 breast, with Gruendel taking fourth in 1:06.09, Caitlin Baran placing sixth in 1:06.58 and Hannah Cody taking seventh in 1:07.94.
Orange and Black was the dominant theme in the 100 back final, as five of the first seven to touch the wall were all Princeton swimmers. Boyce won the final in 54.10, while Waters finished third in 55.54. Monroe, the reigning Ivy League champ in the 200 back, placed fourth in 56.29, while Wang finished fifth in 56.55. The fifth Princeton finisher and seventh overall was Julie Kochman, who touched the wall in 57.52.
The quartet of Qu, Ong, Altenburger and Smalling ended the night with a third-place finish in the 800 free relay with a time of 7:27.68. The 'B' team (Wang, Furgatch, McCotter and Morris) gave Princeton two in the top four with a time of 7.36.57.
Princeton's top finisher in the one-meter diving competition was Christina Kirkwood, who placed sixth with 249.45 points. The Tigers gained serious team points through preliminaries, including ninth- and 10th-place finishes from Carolyn Littlefield (223.75) and Emily Kaplan (212.85).
Here is the schedule and order of events for Sunday's final sessions of the 2010 Big Al Open.
SUNDAY EVENT SCHEDULE (10 a.m. prelims, 5 p.m. finals)
25) Women's 1650 free
26) Men's 1650 free
27) Women's 200 back
28) Men's 200 back
29) Women's 100 free
30) Men's 100 free
31) Women's 200 breast
32) Men's 200 breast
33) Women's 200 fly
34) Men's 200 fly
*** BREAK ***
35) Women's 400 free relay
36) Men's 400 free relay