Princeton University Athletics
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Women Ready For Annual H-Y-P Weekend; Tigers Debut 'Tradition' Page
January 27, 2011 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Sarah Furgatch Interview on TigerCast l The TRADITION of Princeton Women's Swimming & Diving
The Princeton 'Tradition' page looks at the proud history of the program, including all-time records, Top-10 times, Ivy champions and all-time letterwinners and captains. It also includes information on the current team and the University. A similar page for the Princeton men will debut shortly. It can be accessed on the gray bar atop the women's team page and also through a 'Tradition' link on the right side of the page.
The Princeton women's swimming and diving team has won nine Ivy League titles in the last 11 years, and it has spent 12 months preparing to retain the championship it won during a thrilling 2010 championship meet.
To make the championship prospects all the more exciting, the league meet is less than one month away and will return to DeNunzio Pool for the first time since 2008; that year, Princeton rode the wave of positive energy from an electric crowd to its third straight Ivy meet.
You'd think that, this close to 2011 championship weekend, the Ivy League title would be front and center on Princeton's mind.
You'd be wrong.
This is H-Y-P weekend.
In most Ivy League sports, a title is determined during round robin competition, thus making every regular season event all the more meaningful. The H-Y-P swimming/diving weekend doesn't have any direct effect on the league championship weekend, outside of giving one team a mental edge heading in, but that hasn't done anything to dull the importance or excitement of the weekend.
If anything, it actually enhances it. The competitors at all three schools aren't the least bit focused on standings or scoreboard watching. At the Ivy League championship meet, one swimmer at Cornell or Penn can win an event and cost one team big points.
This weekend, those swimmers are back at Cornell or Penn. This weekend is all about three programs with tremendous history.
This weekend is only about Princeton, Harvard and Yale.
Those three teams will meet over two sessions at Kiphuth Exhibition Pool inside Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale, beginning Friday with diving at 2 p.m. and swimming at 6 p.m. Diving will resume at 10 a.m. Saturday morning and swimming will resume at 12 p.m.
Princeton has won this event four straight years and is riding a 35-meet win streak that began after its loss to Harvard in 2006. Continuing that streak will be a major challenge for Princeton, as both Harvard and Yale fought the Tigers from wire to wire at the 2010 Ivy League Championship meet.
Here is a look at several of the key competitors in all events this weekend:
All three teams bring top sprinters into the weekend. Princeton senior Megan Waters, the Ivy League individual champion in the 100 last year, has the league's best times in both the 50 and the 100 this season, and freshman teammate Lisa Boyce has top-three times in both events as well. They will take on Yale's Alex Forrester, the 2010 Ivy champ in the 50, and Harvard's Katy Hinkle, who is also in the top three in both events.
The 200 free could turn into another showdown between 2010 Ivy champion Jillian Altenburger of Princeton and Harvard's Kate Mills, who placed second to Altenburger by less than a second and brings the league's best time into the weekend. Princeton junior Aislinn Smalling has the fourth-best time in the league this year in the 200, while Yale returns two of the top four finishers in the 2010 Ivy final in Joan Weaver and Ileana Lucos.
The 2010 Ivy championships in distance events were won by either Princeton's Alicia Aemisegger or Harvard's Alexanda Clarke, both of whom graduated last summer. That opens the door for new potential champions, and all three schools have worthy contenders. Princeton seniors Ming Ong and Nicole McAndrew joined Smalling and backstroke standout Meredith Monroe in the 500 final last year; both Ong and Smalling were top-four finishers in the 1000, while Smalling and McAndrew were top-four in the mile. Freshman Maureen McCotter is a newcomer to watch for Princeton; she comes into the weekend with the best mile time in the field.
Both Mills and Meghan Leddy have top 500 times for the Crimson coming into the weekend, while Yale's Molly Albrecht has the third-best time this year in the 500 and is the top returning swimmer from the 2010 Ivy championships in the event.
Boyce set the time to beat in the 100 back when she broke a Princeton record with a time of 54.10; that time would have won the 2010 Ivy League final by more than .4 of a second. Both Monroe and Waters have Top-5 times for Princeton. Leddy has a top-three time in the 100, but she has the strongest 200 swim by more than three seconds this season (1:55.60). Like Boyce, that time would have won the 2010 Ivy final, but she'll have to fight off both Monroe and Albrecht for this win.
When Yale's Susan Kim graduated last year, it left the breaststroke open for new Ivy contenders. Princeton freshman Andrea Kropp didn't waste any time establishing herself as a prime candidate in the event; she has the best 100 time (1:02.14) by more than half a second, and she has the best 200 time (2:11.62) by more than 3.5 seconds. After placing fifth at Open Nationals last summer in the 200 breast, she is the clear favorite here, though Yale's Athena Liao could give her the toughest battle in both. Princeton sophomore Sarah Furgatch was a championship finalist in both events last year and will be looking to score in these events as well.
Yale's Forrester is a big favorite in the fly events; she is both the defending Ivy champ in the 100 and 200 fly, and she has the top Ivy times in both events this season. In both cases, her time is at least two seconds faster than anybody in the field. Sophomore Carter Stephens will be Princeton's top contender in both events, although junior Caitlin Baran was a 200 finalist last year.
Kropp also brings the best 200 and 400 IM times into the weekend, although Harvard's Mills and Katherine Pickard will likely give her a good battle in both. Mills and Pickard were both Ivy runners-up in 2010 to graduated Princeton swimmers Courtney Kilkuts and Aemisegger, but Kropp has more than a one-second edge in the 200 and a two-second edge in the 400. Tigers Kerry Gruendel and Rebecca Lewinson could also factor into these events.
Each team has a solid cast of divers, including a Princeton squad that has five divers in either its freshman or sophomore class. Among that group is freshman Rachel Zambrowicz, a winner is last weekend's Dartmouth meet, and sophomore Bryna Tsai, who was an Ivy finalist last year. Senior Carolyn Littlefield is the most experienced Princeton diver, and she finished third at the 2010 Ivy championships on the three-meter board.