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Ivy Champion Women's Swim/Dive Reloads, Ready To Open Season In Miami
November 05, 2015 | Women's Swimming and Diving
But after the way the 2015 Ivy Championships ended, you better expect the unexpected with this group.
Princeton, which is taking part in its annual fall training trip in Florida, will compete against the University of Miami Friday afternoon at 4 pm. Due to construction on the Miami pool, the swimming portion of the meet has been moved to the Gulliver Prep School, while the diving will take place at Miami-Dade College.
For Princeton, it will be the first team competition since that stunning final session at the 2015 Ivy Championships, when the Tigers spent most of the night looking up to either Harvard or Yale atop the team standings. Refusing to go away, Princeton pushed all the way back and clinched the title with a record-setting 400 free relay in the evening's final event.
Head coach Susan Teeter, who has led Princeton to 17 of its 22 Ivy League championships, could do without the final-night drama, but in a conference as improved as the Ivy League, she knows that any championship now will take an incredible team effort.
So far, Teeter and associate head coach Suzanne Yee have been very pleased with the efforts put in, both by returning members of the championship squad and a talented group of freshmen which has already added both speed and energy to the grueling preseason workouts.
“We have such a great group of new girls on the team this year,” junior tri-captain Olivia Chan said. “They bring a wonderful new energy onto the team, and they are incredibly talented. I am especially excited that we have a number of new breaststrokers on the team. I can't wait to see what they all contribute to the team this season.”
There is a long way to go, and a lot of speed to gain, before Princeton is ready to welcome the league to DeNunzio Pool for the 2016 Ivy League Championships (Feb. 18-20), but the competition time is now upon us, and Princeton is ready to get back to racing.
Here is an early look at the 2015-16 Princeton women's swimming & diving team.
FREE
Senior Elizabeth McDonald is the reigning Ivy League champion in the 50 free, and she leads a corps of Tigers that helped Princeton win both the 200 and 400 free relays at last year's championship meet.
McDonald won the 50 free in 22.72 and reached the A final in the 100, and she should again be one of the top swimmers in the event. Classmate and tri-captain Nikki Larson finished third in the 50 and also made the A finals in the 100, so that will be one of the fastest and most experienced duos in the Ivy League.
Sophomore Madelyn Veith anchored the winning 200 free relay, and she clinched the Ivy title when her hand touched the wall to clinch the 400 free relay. With a year of offseason training under her belt, she could be primed for even more this coming season.
Veith won the B final in both the 100 and 200 free last year, but classmate Claire McIlmail took top honors in the 200 free during the middle session of the championship weekend. McIlmail won the 200 by nearly a full second (1:47.21), and she reached the A finals in both the 100 and 500 free.
A third member of that sophomore class is a wild card, though it is one that Princeton can't wait to watch this season. Alisabeth Marsteller was one of the nation's top recruits in that class, but an injury kept her out of the pool most of last season. The former 11-time All-American held Ohio records in both the 200 and 400, and she could provide a major lift in the mid-distance events.
The Tigers didn't have great depth in the distance events, and they graduated one of their top swimmers in Reece Iriondo, but sophomore Mary Kate Davis scored some important points in the 1000/1650. Freshman Monica McGrath brings lifetime best times that would have been around the Top 10 in both events, and the coaching staff believes she could make a solid jump forward this coming season.
BACK
Senior Sada Stewart has been an A finalist in both the 100 and 200 back at every Ivy League Championship event throughout her career, and she'd love nothing more than to claim her first individual Ivy League title at DeNunzio Pool to cap her career. She'll have fond memories at DeNunzio, as she earned Second-Team All-Ivy honors after finishing second in both finals back in 2013.
Sophomore Lindsay Temple took third in the 200 back last year — she had the fastest preliminary time in the morning — and she added a 10th-place finish in the 100 back one day earlier.
Freshman Joanna Curry, who could also impact the free and fly events, is a potential A finalist in both back events this season as well.
BREAST
As Chan mentioned earlier, this is a group that got loaded with depth from its freshman class. She didn't mention, however, that she remains in the elite class of this group.
Chan finished third in the 100 breast at last year's Ivy championships, and she has finished in the Top 10 of both the 100 and 200 in each of her two years in the conference meet. Her B final swim during the final session of last year's championships, when she dropped nearly two and a half seconds off her prelim time, was one of the most inspiring swims of the whole session.
Classmate Melissa Fulenwider made the A finals in both events as well, but those were the only two to make the Top 16 in either. There should be far more Orange and Black in those races this year, especially thanks to the arrival of Kate Didion, Lindsay Swartz, Karen Zhang and Janet Zhao.
How strong is this quartet? Everyone of them has a lifetime best time that would have placed inside the Top 6 of the Ivy League A final in both the 100 and 200 breast events.
FLY
McDonald and Larson were both A finalists in the 100 last year, with McDonald taking runner-up honors, and classmate Morgan Karetnick added a fifth-place finish in the event. That's three seniors who are primed to swim this event on the final night of their Ivy League careers inside DeNunzio Pool. It will be can't-miss theater.
But those aren't the only important names in this stroke. Sophomore Elsa Welshofer took second in the 200 by only .01 of a second, and she added a fifth-place finish in the 100. The coaching staff is excited to see what jumps she will make this season.
One of Welshofer's top challengers could be freshman Isabel Reid, whose best 200 time would have won Ivies last season. Her best 100 time would have been fourth-best at Ivies, and her best 200 IM time would have finished second. Speaking of the IM …
INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
The Tigers return three finalists from the 200 IM in Stewart, Chan and tri-captain Beverly Nguyen, while Reis leads a group of freshmen (mainly from the fly list) who could also provide a sharp impact on the event. Nguyen was also Princeton's top finisher in the 400.
DIVING
No Princeton Tiger had a better year than current junior Caitlin Chambers, who went undefeated against the Ivy League in the regular season and swept both the 1- and 3-meter events. She returns with classmates, and fellow 'A' finalists, Lisa Li and Deborah Daly that should lead a formidable diving group under coach Greg Gunn. Freshman Carolyn McFarlane, a member of the British Columbia provincial team, should also bring strength to the group.