Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Day One
Players Mentioned
Career Sweeps By Captains Highlight Day 1 At Ivy Women's Championships
February 26, 2010 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Seniors Alicia Aemisegger and Courtney Kilkuts completed career sweeps in their respective events, while the Princeton 400 medley relay broke a Harvard pool record that lasted nearly three decades, during an exciting first day of the 2010 Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championship meet.
Princeton, which is going for its ninth Ivy League championship in the last 11 years, has had some brilliant first days in past years. Last year, an early relay disqualification led to a nightmare start and an eventual Crimson victory.
The first day of the 2010 meet fell somewhere in the middle for the Tigers. Princeton will head into Friday's session with 390 team points, while Yale holds second with 353 points. Harvard is third with 348, while no other team is within 125 points of any of the top three. However, that score is a bit misleading, as the Crimson held an edge in the preliminary diving competition; since the championship session of the three-meter competition will take place Friday, no team points were awarded in diving Thursday night.
In other words, through one day of the championship meet, Harvard and Princeton are in a virtual dead heat.
"I think in a number of cases, we just tried to hard tonight," head coach Susan Teeter said afterwards. "Because our team was trying so hard, we didn't swim as well as we could have. Sometimes that happens when you're really excited about racing. We have a great rivalry with Harvard, so as a coach, I really appreciate their effort.
"The 400 medley relay was a beautiful swim," Teeter added. "That was classic Princeton swimming, and it was a great way to end the night."
While most assume the title will come down to either Harvard or Princeton, it was actually Yale that claimed the first event of the championships. With an array of strong sprinters, the Bulldogs won the 200 free relay in 1:32.70, just .03 of a second faster than second-place Harvard.
The Crimson earned 56 team points for finishing second, eight fewer than it would have received for winning the event. Princeton grabbed 54 points as the foursome of Megan Waters, Carter Stephens, Kerry Gruendel and Courtney Kilkuts finished the event in 1:33.36, nearly one full second faster than fourth-place Brown.
The 200 free relay began with a showdown between Waters and Yale freshman Alex Forrester; it would be a dual that would be seen one more time Thursday night at Blodgett Pool.
The first individual event of the championships was the 500 free, which Aemisegger won in 4:40.29, nearly five seconds faster than the rest of the field. The four-time 500 free champion helped put Princeton ahead of the field, although a strong performance from her younger teammates played a major role.
Sophomore Meredith Monroe placed fourth in the 500 in 4:50.74, while junior Nicole McAndrew placed sixth in 4:52.78. Sophomore Aislinn Smalling placed seventh in 4:53.51, while junior Ming Ong finished eighth in 4:54.61. A 5-1 edge for Princeton over Harvard in championship finalists was exactly what Teeter was hoping for early in the championships.
One of the big showdowns Thursday night came in the 200 IM, as Kilkuts took on Harvard's Kate Mills and Yale's Susan Kim. As she has in each of her three previous championships, Kilkuts touched the wall first. Her time of 2:00.32 topped Mills by .36 of a second to give her a fifth career individual championship.
Rounding out the championship final for Princeton was Gruendel, who placed seventh in 2:05.13, and freshman Sarah Furgatch, who placed eighth in 2:05.29.
The rematch between Forrester and Waters took place in the 50 free final, and the talented Yale freshman won her first Ivy League title in 22.73. Waters raced well to finish second in 22.92, while Stephens added a 10th-place finish in 23.82. The victory actually moved Yale into second place through the final individual swimming event of the evening.
The final event of the evening was the 400 medley relay, and Princeton was dominant with a Princeton, pool and championship meet record time of 3:39.20. Monroe, one of the favorites in both upcoming back events, opened the final with a split of 55.37, fastest among of the opening legs. Kilkuts, the 2008 Ivy champ in the 100 breast, followed with a split of 1:02.30; at that point, Yale's Kim gave the Bulldogs a slim edge.
And then Aemisegger hit the water, and that lead went away. Her split of 52.21 forced a tie with Yale heading into the final 100, and Waters did the rest. The junior sprinter swam the final 100 free in 49.32 – the only sub-50 split in the field – to clinch a Princeton win.
The diving advantage belonged to the Crimson, which earned a 3-2 edge in championship finalists and a 2-1 edge in consolation finalists. The consolation finals happened Thursday night, and Princeton's Christina Kirkwood placed 13th with 222.00 points.
The championship finals will be Friday, and Princeton will have freshman Bryna Tsai and junior Carolyn Littlefield in the final. Tsai goes into the final with the second-best score of 255.95, less than three points behind leader Melissa Gardel of Penn.