After several weeks of tapering and fine-tuning, Cornell women’s swimming and diving will return to Providence this week to compete in the Ivy League Championships.
Many of the Red’s top-performers at last year’s championships are poised to return in full force, including seniors Cari Stankaitis, Currie Murch-Elliot and Billy Murch-Elliot.
Last year, Stankaitis finished sixth in the 100 free and 13th overall in the 50 free. Currie broke two school records — one in the 1,000 yard free while finishing in 14th place, and the other in the 400 IM with an 8th place finish. Her twin, Billy, took down her own school record in the 200 IM while finishing in 14th place. All three will look to improve on last year’s marks at their final Ivy League Championship.
Last year, Cornell only bested Dartmouth in the championships, finishing in 7th for the third straight year. However, during this year’s regular season, Cornell defeated both Dartmouth and Columbia, giving the Red a 6th-place standing heading into championships.
“[We have been] paying even more attention to detail and focusing on putting everything together to get as close to a technically perfect race as possible,” Stankaitis said. “This, in addition to our competitive drive, will help us to reach our potential at the Ivy’s.”
In the past four years, Harvard and Princeton have alternated as Ivy League champs, though Yale was undefeated during the regular season this year and sits on top of the standings. The Bulldogs are poised to challenge the dominant Harvard-Princeton duo.
The Red will focus on strong performances and consistency to maximize its point potential to climb as far up in the standings as possible.
“We are going to put just as much emphasis on prelims as we do on finals,” Stankaitis said. “It is really important to us to have good swims in the mornings so that we are making it back to finals at night. We hope to have more girls in finals than in the past so that we can ultimately score more points and place higher overall.”
The Red hopes to see both individual and relay school records fall and propel the team to new heights in the league.
“We’re really excited, it should be fun to get back out to Providence,” said head coach Pat Gallagher.
The championships begin on Wednesday and continue through Saturday. Prelims will begin at 11 a.m. and finals will begin at 6 p.m. The results will be broadcasted on the Ivy League Digital Network.