Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Swim/Dive Team Heads To Ivies As Inspired Underdog To Host Harvard
February 22, 2012 | Women's Swimming and Diving
IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS CENTRAL
For the first time in years, the Princeton women's swimming and diving team can look across the pool and find the bullseye.
Having won nine of the last 11 Ivy League championships, the Tigers are accustomed to having all eyes on them when the conference meet begins. Year after year, Princeton hits the water Thursday morning with the mounting pressure of the highest expectations.
When the Tigers touch the Blodgett Pool water Thursday morning for the first of six sessions of the 2012 Ivy League Championships, they will do so as just one of seven teams chasing the Harvard Crimson.
But they will be one dangerous team. Overlook them at your own peril.
Princeton carried a 42-meet win streak the last time it traveled to Boston, which came during the first weekend in February for the annual H-Y-P showdown. The Tigers extended the streak to 43 with a victory over Yale, but the Ivy-unbeaten Crimson established themselves as Ivy favorites with a 190-110 win.
One week later, an inspired Columbia squad came to DeNunzio Pool and scored a 173-127 victory.
Head coach Susan Teeter has seen some impressive performances from Ivy League teams this month. She knows that Princeton's best weekend is still to come. Whether it will be enough remains to be seen, but she knows her roster well enough to know that the Tigers will be ready this weekend.
The championships will begin Thursday morning at 11 am with a set of preliminary events. Each day will begin with 11 am preliminaries, and they will conclude with finals sessions at 6 pm. A full schedule of events can be found here. The Ivy League Women's Swimming & Diving Championships will be streamed live through Harvard's video portal. All six sessions will be available, with a day pass priced at $14.95 and a full weekend pass priced at $24.95. The stream will be a single stationary camera, but will have the PA tied directly into it so fans will know which lanes swimmers are in, event winners, etc.
This isn't completely unchartered territory for Princeton swimming and diving. One year earlier, the Princeton men lost two regular-season meets, including one to Harvard, and then traveled to Blodgett for the championship meet. With a strong first day, Princeton posted a lead that it held through three dramatic, hard-fought days. The women will be looking for a similar effort Thursday, and they will have a good sense of where they stand almost immediately.
The first preliminary of the championships is the 500 free, where Harvard has four of the top seven times. Princeton doesn't have any, though it has five swimmers ranked between eighth and 12th. If the Tigers can place a couple in the championship final, it would be an ideal start against the deep, talented Crimson. Teeter will be counting on youth there, as freshmen Reese Iriondo and Claire Loht, as well as sophomore Maureen McCotter, are closest to the top seven.
If you go through the pre-championship psych sheet, you'll see Princeton swimmers lurking just in the background in multiple events. If there is a time to come up with that best swim, to jump to the front of one event or another, they know it hasn't happened yet.
And they know it has to happen now.
Princeton has a strong sprint corps, which will help in both individual events and the 200/400 free relay. The Tigers are led by sophomore Lisa Boyce, who has the league's best time in the 50 (22.83), the 100 (49.59), and the 100 back (53.73). She is the reigning Ivy League champ in the 100 back, and she is the top returner in both the 50 and 100 free.
Teammates Laura Slater, Carter Stephens and Aislinn Smalling will be key figures in the sprints and mid-distance events; Smalling was a 2011 finalist in both the 200 and 500 finals, and should be a factor for Princeton in both events this year.
As the distances get longer, so do the chances for McCotter to have a high finish. After placing second in both the 1,000 and 1,650 last year, she will be a strong challenger in both events this weekend. Iriondo could also be a strong performer for the Tigers.
Princeton has one of the best backstroke duos in the Ivy League in Boyce and senior co-captain Meredith Monroe. While Boyce has the Ivy's best time in the 100 back, Monroe has a top-three time in both the 100 (third, 55.33) and the 200 (second, 1:57.67), and she is a former Ivy champion in the 200 back. Monroe brings big-time experience into the weekend, and her leadership outside of the pool could be as invaluable as her performances in it.
Freshman Shirley Wang could also challenge for the championship finals in both back events, while classmate Courtney Ciardiello has a top-six time in the 200 back.
The breaststroke events will be spots where every point will be crucial for Princeton, which doesn't have a top-four time in the 100 or a top-five time in the 200. Freshman Emily Yu will provide Princeton's top threat in both events, while senior Hannah Cody and junior Sarah Furgatch are among the other potential finalists.
The two fly events could provide big swings in the Princeton-Harvard race. The Crimson comes into the weekend with stronger times in the 200, while Princeton has the edge in the 100. Stephens took second in the 100 and third in the 200 fly last year, and she will be looking to jump past a host of Crimson swimmers in the 200 this year. Ciardiello and senior Kathy Qu will also be factors for Princeton.
Senior co-captain Kerry Gruendel, another factor in the breast events, will play a big role in the opening day of the championships with her performance in the 200 IM. Both Harvard and Princeton have three of the top eight times coming in, and Gruendel has the Tigers' top time (2:03.52). Along with teammates Cara Slear and Sarah Liang, they will be looking for big points in a key early event.
Slear, sophomore Rebecca Lewinson and Baran will be factors in the 400 IM; Lewinson placed in the top five last year, and three of the four above her graduated.
Diving oftentimes plays a major role in the championship outcome, and Princeton can feel good about its crew this weekend. Coach Greg Gunn's group will be led by sophomore Rachel Zambrowicz, the reigning Ivy League Championships Diver of the Meet, and senior Christina Kirkwood, who is having the best season of her career. Kirkwood will be looking to match the 2011 efforts of Caroyln Littlefield, who won her first individual Ivy League title during her senior meet. Junior Bryna Tsai is a former All-America on the platform, and both sophomore Randi Brown and junior Katelyn Perry had good efforts in the season finale against Columbia.
Teeter knows that her team enters the weekend as an underdog to the Crimson. She knows that the league as a whole has gotten dramatically faster, which makes the entire event a better, more open competition.
But she also knows the tradition of her program, and she is confident that her team will proudly carry it forward.