Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Women's Swim/Dive Sends Seniors Out With 171-115 Home Win Over Columbia
February 05, 2016 | Women's Swimming and Diving
COMPLETE RESULTS
While there is still one big — really big — meet still to come, the Princeton women's swimming and diving team honored its senior class and capped its regular season with an impressive 171-115 victory over Columbia Friday afternoon at DeNunzio Pool.
Princeton won 13 of the 16 events during the meet, and it paid tribute to its highly successful senior class midway through the meet.
"I used to think stepping up on the blocks to race at DuNunzio could not get any better, until I realized I was stepping up for the races at my last college duel meet," senior Sada Stewart said. "To have a senior day meet, and especially a victory is a fitting way to cap off the past four years with my classmates. We have loved (almost) every moment of swimming together. To be able to have it hit us that we have made it four years together, and love each other, the sport, and especially the team even more than when we came in as freshmen is pretty special."
Complete results of the meet can be found by clicking the link above.
Princeton sent an immediate message Friday, going 1-2-3 in the 200 medley relay. The quartet of Kathleen Mulligan, Olivia Chan, Elsa Welshofer and Nikki Larson took the race in 1:43.58, more than four seconds faster than anybody in the field. That group was about to come back in style in individual races shortly afterwards.
Following a runner-up finish for Isabel Reis in the 200 IM, the Tigers got wins from Larson (200 free, 1:51.03), Mulligan (100 back, 57.14), Chan (100 breast, 1:04.87), and Welshofer (200 fly, 2:03.08). Junior Katie Diller won the 50 free in 23.92, and Larson added another win by going 51.56 in the 100 free.
Mulligan added a double of her own by taking the 200 back in 2:03.41, and freshman Monica McGrath won the 500 free in 4:56.04.
Welshofer gave Princeton a third double-winner; she took the 100 fly in 55.67, and Chan made it four by winning the 100 IM in 58.09.
The junior duo of Deborah Daly and Lisa Li split wins in the diving events. Li won the 3-meter competition with 274.73 points, while Daly took the 1-meter with 282.45 points.
The quartet of Maddy Veith, Mulligan, Elaina Gu and Katie Diller finished the meet by winning the 200 free relay in 1:35.54.
The seniors, who have already been part of two Ivy League championship teams, that were honored were Sada Stewart, Mallory Remick, Beverly Nguyen, Maylin Meisenheimer, Elizabeth McDonald, Nikki Larson, Morgan Karetnick and Helen Zitkovsky.
Of course, those seniors still have three more days of competitive swimming left in DeNunzio Pool. They will now focus on the 2016 Ivy League Championships, which will be held Feb. 18-20 and streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network.
"The momentum of the good feelings from the meet we will be able to use as morale and motivation to get into the last stages of training of the season, not just the emotions of being seniors," Stewart said. "We have been really good as a class about keeping the focus on the now, and that is what we plan to do in the next few weeks. It has been amazing to see how strong every other team in the Ivy League is this season, so we hope to get ready to really swim fast and see a competitive Ivy Championship. Nothing is better than getting to swim fast at the end of the season."
MORE TO COME