This weekend, the women’s swimming and diving team will travel to Princeton to compete in the Ivy League championships. The Red finished in seventh place out of eight squads last year. It looks as though the Red will have a difficult task once again this year, as it posted a record of 5-7 and had only one of those wins come against an Ivy League squad — Dartmouth.
This trip will be the Red’s second trip to DeNunzio Pool. The first came early in the season when it was defeated by both the Tigers — who are the defending Ivy champs — and Penn.
Last season at the Ivies, the Red edged out Dartmouth by just one point, and was over 150 points behind the sixth-place finisher. Returning place-winners from last year’s squad include junior Megan Gutman, who was the lead swimmer in the 400-yard freestyle relay which placed seventh. Senior Courtney Tawresey and sophomore Alyson Melin placed 15th and 19th, respectively, in the 200-yard breaststroke. Sophomore diver Kara Neal placed 13th in the 3-meter dive to round out the returning place winners.
Yet, the Red will look to improve on last year’s standing as it has done all year, with the help of the freshman corps. Holly Chance, a member of this group, will look to place in both the 100-yard freestyle and butterfly events. In Ivy competition, Chance had two top-finishes in both those events.
Classmate Jessica Brookman, the most versatile of the freshman, came in with second-place finishes in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-fly, and also a third place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, against Ivy League competition.
Rookie Marisa Sweetser will also get a chance to show her abilities this weekend in the 200-yard breaststroke and backstroke.
All three swimmers — Chance, Brookman, and Sweetser — along with junior Megan Gutman, together broke a Teagle Pool record in the Yale meet in the 400-yard medley relay. Diver Kristen Rayhack rounds out the strong freshman class, having posted three first-place marks in the 1-meter diving event, after a third-place finish in the same event, in her first ever competition.
The Ivy championships begin today and run through Saturday.
Archived article by Chris Mascaro