Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Big Al Day 3
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Players Mentioned
Hungry Youth, Deep Talent Push Women's Swim/Dive To 2015 Big Al Title
December 07, 2015 | Women's Swimming and Diving
COMPLETE RESULTS
You don't win 22 Ivy League Championships without some of the league's all-time best swimmers, but most of the Princeton women's swimming and diving Ivy League champions were known for their depth of talent.
Basically, over a three-day meet, they just kept showing up in one final after another, grabbing points upon points in relentless fashion.
While the 2016 Ivy League championship is already shaping up to be an incredible battle with the likes of Yale and Harvard, this particular Princeton squad showed a little bit of that relentless nature during the fall-closing Big Al Open. Despite trailing after one day, the Tigers roared back with an overwhelming number of finalists to claim the 2015 title.
Princeton won the title with 994 points, while Pittsburgh placed second with 931 points. No other school was within 300 points of the Tigers, as Villanova took third with 691 points. The victory also serves as the dual meet wins over both Brown and Dartmouth, which moves the Tigers to 4-0 in the Ivy League (dual scores will be calculated afterwards).
Princeton showed its depth early, placing four in the final of the 200 back. Sophomore Lindsay Temple had a brilliant race to the wall with Villanova freshman Darby Goodwin; Temple barely missed the win by .02 of a second, but the performance showed she will again be a force in the Ivy chase in this event.
Senior Sada Stewart (5th, 2:00.48), freshman Joanna Curry (6th, 2:00.52) and sophomore Mary Kate Davis (8th, 2:07.22) all joined Temple in the final and helped the Tigers get some breathing room between themselves and Pittsburgh.
Sophomores Maddy Veith and Claire McIlmail both made the 100 free finals. Veith took fifth in 50.42, while McIlmail took eighth in 50.96.
One thing the coaching staff was determined to do last year was add considerable depth to its breaststroke group. Sunday's 200 final provided amble evidence that the goal was a success. Four Tiger freshmen placed within the top six, a group led by Lindsey Swartz (3rd, 2:15.33). Classmates Kate Didion (2:16.01), Janet Zhao (2:16.62), and Karen Zhang (2:17.12) followed in the next three spots and gave the Ivy League a glimpse of the future in this event.
The league got another glimpse of a current and future contender in the 200 fly, as freshman Isabel Reis picked up an individual win by more than 1.5 seconds. She finished in 1:57.97, and she was one of four Tigers in the top five: Nikki Larson (3rd, 1:59.70), Morgan Karetnick (4th, 2:02.12) and Curry (5th, 2:02.56) helped build upon the Tiger lead.
Another freshman, Monica McGrath, added a seventh-place finish in the mile in 16:50.07.
Junior Lisa Li took third in the 3-meter finals with 280.35 points, while three other Tigers joined her in the A final. Freshman Carolyn MacFarlane took fifth with 274.15 points, while sophomore Colleen McHugh was sixth with 267.80 points. Junior Alice Eltvedt finished eighth with 252.25 points.
The women closed the meet with a tight runner-up finish in the 400 free relay. The quartet of Larson, McIlmail, Elizabeth McDonald and Veith finished in 3:20.94.