Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Ivy Championships Day 2
Players Mentioned
Tigers Locked In Three-Team Thriller Going Into Final Day At Ivy Champs
February 21, 2015 | Women's Swimming and Diving
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Seriously, what else did you expect?
Princeton went 150-150 with Harvard during H-Y-P weekend, and then it won the 400 free relay to pull out a 151-149 win over Columbia in the regular season finale. Did anybody think the Ivy League Championships would be drama free?
No chance.
A victory for freshman Claire McIlmail in the 200 free, followed by an evening-ending win for the 800 free relay, helped Princeton stay close in a wild three-team showdown going into Day 3 of the 2015 Ivy League Championships at Blodgett Pool.
Harvard, both the reigning Ivy champion and the host school, leads the field after Day 2 with 924.5 points. Yale, which got off to a terrific start in the 1000, moved slightly ahead of Princeton into second place with 915.5 points, while the Tigers are in third with 914.5 points.
Yes, 10 points separate three schools with seven events remaining.
McIlmail's victory in the 200 free was a highlight of Princeton's evening; the freshman, who posted the top preliminary time during the morning, went wire-to-wire in the final to win the Tigers' third individual title of the weekend in 1:47.21. She was the lone Tiger in the final, though classmate Madelyn Veith did claim a 'B' final win in 1:49.14.
That duo made up the final half of Princeton's winning 800 free relay during the final event. Senior Reese Iriondo and junior Nikki Larson led off and kept Princeton within 1.5 seconds of Yale by the time the freshman duo took over. McIlmail almost made up the whole deficit on her own, and Veith did the rest to post a winning time of 7:14.58.
"Tonight was the most incredible night of my whole swimming career and that the energy from the alumni and my teammates helped me push through that 200," McIlmail said. "The relay was the most exciting race I've watched and been a part of and I am so proud of Nikki, Maddy, and Reese for how much heart and determination they put into that race. I'm super excited to see how the rest of the meet goes and I know my teammates will fight to the very last event."
Yale opened the night by edging Princeton in the 200 medley relay, though the Tiger team of Sada Stewart, Olivia Chan, Elsa Welshofer and Veith did break the pool record to finish second in 1:40.77.
Yale and Harvard made big jumps on Princeton in the 1000, though Iriondo took eighth in 10:02.35. Junior Beverly Nguyen followed with a fourth-place finish in the 400 IM (4:18.44).
Princeton made its move in the 100 fly, where it placed four finalists in the top six. Junior Elizabeth McDonald, who won the 50 free Thursday evening, finished second in the 100 in 53.47. Classmate Morgan Karetnick took fourth in 53.76, while Welshofer (53.82) and Larson (53.97) took the next two spots.
Following McIlmail's win in the 200, sophomore Olivia Chan went 1:02.53 to finish third in the 100 breast, while classmate Melissa Fulenwider took eighth in 1:04.21. Stewart added a sixth-place finish in the 100 back in 55.25.
Saturday's preliminaries will begin at 11 am and will include the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and 200 fly. Those four events will have the finals in the evening during a session that will also include the mile, the 3-meter diving finals and the 400 free relay. Harvard placed four divers in the 3-meter final, while Princeton had three and Yale had one.