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Princeton Women Look To Ignite Strong Stretch Run During H-Y-P Weekend
January 28, 2015 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Princeton, Harvard and Yale stand atop the Ivy League women's swimming and diving standings currently, each with an unbeaten league record.
That is assured to change by Saturday afternoon.
The annual H-Y-P meet will take place this Friday (6 pm) and Saturday (noon) at Blodgett Pool in Boston, the same site as the Ivy League Championships three weeks later (Feb. 19-21). That meet, which will be streamed on the Ivy League Digital Network, will ultimately determine the league champion, but H-Y-P weekend remains one of the most special meets of the Ivy season.
It also features three teams who will bring the highest aspirations to Blodgett Pool in February.
Princeton, winner of 11 of the last 15 Ivy League championships, is currently 5-2 overall, 4-0 in the Ivy League this season. The Tigers have a mix of championship experience from its upperclassmen and exuberant youth looking to make an early statement this weekend.
One of the most experienced Tigers is junior Nikki Larson, the reigning Ivy League champion in the 100 fly. Larson reached the NCAA Championships last year, and is hoping to join a larger group at the NCAA Championships in Greensboro this March. Larson could find herself in a 200 fly rematch with Yale's Sydney Hirschi, who topped Larson by less than one second in the 2014 Ivy final.
Several of the league's top IM swimmers will be in the meet this weekend, including Princeton junior Beverly Nguyen, who has the Ivy's third-fastest 200 (2:02.38) and 400 (4:19.94).
Head coach Susan Teeter will get an early look at how her freshmen react in this environment, though several have already impressed this season. Claire McIlmail currently has the Ivy League's fastest 200 free time (1:47.97), while Elsa Welshofer has the second-fastest 100 fly.
Sophomore diver Caitlin Chambers has been terrific all season, including a sweep in both the Penn/Cornell meet and the Brown Open. She will look to continue her run through the Ivy League against the likes of Yale's Lilybet MacRae, the reigning Ivy League Championships Diver of the Meet; MacRae won the 1-meter competition last year, while Chambers won the 3-meter event.