The women’s swim team had a phenomenal showing at this weekend’s Ivy Championship meet in Princeton, N.J. Posting some of their best times from the entire season, the women stepped it up to close out the season on a positive note. Although the Red finished in seventh place overall, it finished 141 points higher than it did at last year’s championships.
“Every swimmer on the team contributed to our performance,” said women’s head coach John Holohan. “Our swimmers had substantial drops [in their times] in almost every event.”
One of the highlights of the meet was the performance of the 200-freestyle relay team, which placed fifth overall and tied the record for the third fastest time in Cornell history. The 400-freestyle relay team placed seventh overall with a time of 4:29.20, securing a USA National cut time.
Individual members also swam extraordinarily well. Freshman Emilie Rennie took 21st place in the 500-freestyle with a time of 5:05.17, surpassing her all-time best mark by nearly five seconds. Junior Ashley Johnson also had a lifetime best score in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:08:41, taking 18th place overall. Johnson’s time is also good for the 4th fastest in Cornell history.
Freshman Leah Tourtellotte also secured the 4th best time in the history of Cornell for the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 23.98, with junior Elissa Kline following close behind. Tourtellotte also had a lifetime best time of 1:53.61 in the 200-meter freestyle, placing 9th overall. Kline took 11th place in this same event, finishing strong with a time of 1:53:99. In the distance events, Rennie took sixth place in the 1650-meter freestyle, with a personal best score of 17:03.31, more than 30 seconds faster than any of her previous swims.
“Her points were crucial to beating Dartmouth,” said Holohan.
In the 1000-meter freestyle, Rennie took 12th place overall, finishing with 10:20.53, a personal best and the 4th all-time best at Cornell. Meredith Blackman also scored a lifetime best in the 400-meter individual medley, finishing at 4:36.64.
The 100-meter butterfly was another successful event for the Red. Five of the Red swimmers contributed in this event, with Jessica Brookman taking a 4th place overall with a time of 56.31. Ashley Johnson also scored a lifetime best at 57 seconds, Holly Chance finished in 16th place, and Steph Kusko and Nicole Traverdian scored personal bests with scores of 58.41 and 59.34, respectively.
The team of Brookman, Aly Melin, Johnson, and Tourtellotte performed exceptionally well in the 400-meter medley relay, winning the 6th place title and securing a USA Swimming National Cut Time.
The hard work of junior diver Kristin Rayhack also paid off in the meet this weekend. Rayhack won 4th place in the 1-meter dive in addition to placing 3rd in the 3-meter dive.
In the 200-meter breaststroke, Melin had one of the best races of her college career. She shaved four seconds off her best in season swim with a lifetime best time of 2:22:87, taking 11th place overall. Her time for this event ranks 5th overall in Cornell history.
Archived article by Kristen Schneider
Sun Staff Writer