Princeton University Athletics
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Women Compete For Share Of Ivy Regular Season Dual Title Friday At Columbia
February 04, 2015 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Less than a week after posting a wild 150-150 tie at Harvard with the reigning Ivy League champion Crimson, the Princeton women's swimming and diving team will look to claim a share of the regular season dual meet title and head into the Ivy League championships with an unbeaten league mark when it travels to Columbia Friday afternoon.
Princeton will head to Uris Pool in New York City Friday at 2 pm for its final regular season meet, and it won't lack for motivation. On one hand, a victory for the Tigers would move them to 6-0-1 in the Ivy League and give them a share of the dual meet title; the official Ivy League championship is determined by the winner of the league meet (Feb. 19-21 in Boston), but any honor is worthwhile.
Even if Princeton didn't actually defeat Harvard, it left Boston feeling very upbeat. The Tigers posted a strong win over Yale and went toe-to-toe with the reigning Ivy champion in its own house. A strong performance Friday would only help that positive energy heading into the next two weeks.
And then there's this: nobody on the Princeton roster owns a regular season victory over Columbia.
While the Tigers have comfortably handled Columbia at the Ivy League Championship over more than a decade (the margin was greater than 400 points last year), the Lions have claimed the regular season meet each of the last three years. You can be assured that each Princeton swimmer, especially a senior class preparing for its final full-team meet, would love to end that trend.
While depth — which is crucial at the league meet — continues to be Princeton's main strength, the Tigers still have some of the league's top performers. Junior Nikki Larson, the reigning Ivy champion in the 100 fly, is coming off H-Y-P wins in both the 50 and 100 free. Sophomore Rebecca Fleming posted the best 1000 time (9:58.48) of the Ivy season to win H-Y-P last weekend, and Caitlin Chambers remained undefeated against Ivy opponents off both boards.
One interesting event to watch Friday could be the 100 fly. Columbia junior Christina Ray currently has the league's best time (53.43), while Tiger freshman Elsa Welshofer is currently second (53.53). Larson, the reigning champion in the event, and classmate Elizabeth McDonald, are all in the top five.
There will be no live video for the event, but the results will be updated by Columbia via Meet Mobile.