Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Ivy Championships Day 1
Players Mentioned
Three Wins Helps Princeton To 2nd Place After Day 1 Of Ivy Championships
February 20, 2015 | Women's Swimming and Diving
DAY 1 RESULTS
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Junior Elizabeth McDonald swam in three 'B' finals at the 2014 Ivy League Championships. Apparently, she wasn't interested in repeating that performance. McDonald claimed her first individual Ivy League title in the 50 free, and Caitlin Chambers followed with a win in the 1-meter diving finals, to help Princeton to second place after the first day of the Ivy League championships.
Harvard holds a slim 14-point lead over Princeton after Day 1, though Yale has shown it plans to be a factor throughout the weekend. The Crimson currently has 449 points, while Princeton (435) and Yale (410) are both within striking distance. No other team has even 300 points.
Thursday was the first of the three-day meet at Blodgett Pool in Harvard, and Princeton earned three wins during the first six events.
Princeton got off to a roaring start during the finals session with a pool record victory in the 200 free relay. McDonald, only minutes before her Ivy championship in the 50, led off a quartet that included Nikki Larson, Kathleen Mulligan and Maddy Veith to a championship time of 1:31.10. The Tigers topped Yale by more than one second to win the event and put the first team points on the board.
The Tigers went 8-9 in the 500, which temporarily dropped them to fourth. Freshman Claire McIlmail, one of the strongest contenders in Friday's 200 free, reached the 'A' final during the morning session and ended up placing eighth in 4:51.57. Senior Reese Iriondo, a guest during this week's edition of TigerBlog, posted a terrific effort to win the 'B' final in 4:51.43.
Princeton sent three swimmers to the 'A' final of the 200 IM, and junior Sada Stewart posted her fifth Top-3 Ivy finish when she took second in 2:01.54. Sophomore Olivia Chan finished sixth in 2:02.77, while junior Beverly Nguyen took eighth in 2:03.19.
Then McDonald took the block for her championship swim. One year after reaching the 'B' final in the 50, McDonald took down the field in 22.72 to win her first individual Ivy crown. It was a big event for Princeton, as classmate Nikki Larson (22.85) took third and freshman Madelyn Veith (23.06) won the 'B' final.
"I was so excited to be able to win for my team," McDonald said. "Going into the race, I was beyond excited after seeing our IMers get it done and I just wanted to keep the energy flowing. I knew it was going to be a fight to the wall because the heat was very tight and I wanted to throw my hand in there as quickly as I could.
"I'm just happy Nikki and I did as well as we could and I can't wait to see the rest of the meet unfold," McDonald added.
That event moved Princeton back to first by one point over Yale, but Harvard knew it was about to make a big jump in another area of Blodgett Pool.
The afternoon prelim session of the 1-meter diving competition saw Harvard send five to the 'A' final, which the Crimson knew would account for major points. However, none of the five could hand Chambers her first loss of the season to an Ivy diver.
Chambers, whose last Ivy loss came in the 1-meter Ivy final last year, won the title with 310.75 points. Classmates Deborah Daly (eighth, 255.50) and Lisa Li (ninth, 254.65) helped offset a big gain for the Crimson, which took its first lead of the night following the event.
The Princeton quartet of Stewart, Chan, Elsa Welshofer and Larson finished fifth in the 400 medley relay in 3:41.18, which concluded the session.
Princeton will return to the pool Friday at 11 for prelims; there will be eight swimming titles handed out (200 medley relay, 1000 free, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 800 free relay), and the 3-meter diving finalists will be determined. You can watch all sessions on the Ivy League Digital Network.