Curry, 400 Free Relay Close Thrilling Weekend With Ivy League Titles; Princeton Posts Big Gains On 2017

Saturday, February 17

Boston, Mass.

11:00 AM/6:00 PM

Princeton University

Ivy Championships Day 4

Photo by: Ivy League

Curry, 400 Free Relay Close Thrilling Weekend With Ivy League Titles; Princeton Posts Big Gains On 2017

February 17, 2018 | Women's Swimming and Diving

LINKS: Day 4 Results l Day 3 Recap l Day 2 Recap l Day 1 Recap

Senior co-captain Maddy Veith has been a model of consistency throughout her four years, and her leadership was critical during a significant year of transition for the Princeton women's swimming and diving team.

That had to make everybody around her feel just a little bit happier that the final 100 yards of her Ivy League career would lead to one more championship.

Veith anchored a stunning 400 free relay that knocked off reigning champion Yale and top-seeded Harvard to win the final event of the 2018 Ivy League Championships. That win, combined with a dominant 200 fly victory for junior co-captain Joanna Curry, left the Tigers with a special feeling at the conclusion of the championship meet.

Harvard reclaimed the Ivy League title with 1616 points, over 100 more than second-place Yale. Princeton finished comfortably in third with 1301 points, a dramatic improvement over the 1,024 they scored last year. Penn was more than 370 points behind Princeton to finish fourth.

"This was an awesome culmination to a fantastic year," first-year head coach Bret Lundgaard said. "Our seniors have embraced the novelty of a new staff and new ideas, and that has made this meet possible. Our student-athletes feel good about improving 273 points from last year, breaking multiple school records and winning multiple individual and a relay championship. We are excited about what we are building.

"I'm proud of the values we reinforced this year, and that they showed throughout this competition," Lundgaard added. "Congratulations to a strong Harvard team in winning the championship, and to all the great performances from all Ivy League student-athletes."

Princeton senior Lindsay Temple opened the evening session with a brilliant swim in the 200 back, an event she won two years earlier at the Ivy Championships. She broke her own Princeton record with a time of 1:54.95, though Penn freshman Quinn Scannell edged her out to take the win in 1:54.64. Veith gave a preview of her brilliant anchor leg in the 400 free relay when she took third in the 100 free final in a lifetime-best time of 49.16, the third-fastest 100 free in school history.

Freshman Jenny Ma took sixth in the 200 breast in 2:14.71, while teammate Shaelyn Choi took eighth in 2:18.33, in the final event before the 200 fly final. Lundgaard thought there could be some magic for Princeton in that event, and he proved prophetic. Curry, who posted the second-fastest time in Princeton history in the prelims (1:57.25) took control of the race from the start and claimed her first individual Ivy title in 1:57.95. It was Princeton's first 200 fly title at Ivies since Monika Friedman won the 2008 crown.

Sophomore teammate Elaine Zhou, who entered the weekend as the fifth seed, earned second-team All-Ivy League honors with a runner-up finish in 1:58.47, the fifth-fastest time in Princeton history. Reis, who would be part of the winning 400 free relay, added a sixth-place finish in 1:59.63.

Princeton had two underclassmen reach the A final of the 3-meter diving competition. Freshman Sine Scribbick took seventh overall with 275.25 points, while sophomore Natasha MacManus finished eighth with 259.55 points.

That left the 400 free relay, and what a thrilling ending it provided for the Orange and Black. Reis opened with a 49.88 split, good enough for third in the field. McIlmail followed with a 49.59 split, which helped Princeton get into second place behind Harvard. Marsteller went 49.96 to keep the Tigers second, and that set up Veith for her dramatic finish. She swam a 48.90, the second-fastest split of anybody in the field, and she passed Harvard freshman Kennidy Quist to claim the Ivy League title, Princeton's first since 2015.

Ultimately, Veith and her senior teammates will graduate this spring having left an indelible mark on the program. They were freshmen on the 2015 Ivy championship team, and their leadership through this transition year could set the foundation for another title team to come.

And Veith, McIlmail and Marsteller made sure they grabbed one more Ivy title before they were finished, while juniors Curry and Reis showed what kind of senior leaders they could be for a Princeton team on the rise.