2015 Ivy Women’s Championship Day 3: Up/Mid/Down – Excitement Building in Cambridge As Anything Is Now Possible

2015 Ivy League Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships

• Dates: Thursday, February 19 – Saturday, February 21, 2015; prelims 11am, finals 6pm
• Location: Blodgett Pool, Cambridge, Mass (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions: Harvard (results)
• Live Results: Available
• Live Video: Available
• Championship Central

In what was once a foregone conclusion, that Harvard would run away with the 2015 Ivy League championships in their home pool, we now have a nailbiter of a final day in which Every Single Point Matters. Every point always matters, but after the final morning’s session, this year’s Ivy League championship is too close to call.

All in all, Penn and Columbia had the best morning, picking up more A finalists, and more finalists in general, than what might have been anticipated. But both teams were already firmly cemented into place at fourth and fifth, respectively, and we don’t expect a different outcome. Nor do we expect big changes to come from Brown, Cornell and Dartmouth. The three leaders, however, are going to take it down to the wire in what is expected to be the most exciting Ivy League championship meet in years.

Full prelims results are available here.

The Ups/Mids/Downs for tonight’s final, including 3-meter diving are as follows:

200 Backstroke

The 200 back has been a “Harvard event” for years, but this time around the top qualifying time came out of Princeton: freshman Lindsay Temple went 1:56.53 to lead the field. Defending champion Danielle Lee of Harvard qualified second in 1:57.32. Then came Sada Stewart (Princeton), Kendall Crawford (Harvard), Salena Huang (Columbia), Kristina Li (Harvard), Olivia Jameson (Yale), and Michelle Chintanaphol (Yale). It took 1:59.56 to make the A final this year.

100 Freestyle

Cornell junior Jenna Immormino, who placed third in this event last year, had the fastest swim of the morning with 49.62. Joining her in the championship final tonight will be Brown senior Kate Dillione, Princeton’s Nikki Larson, Harvard’s Gabby Sims, Claire McIlmail and Elizabeth McDonald of Princeton, Kina Zhou of Yale, and Maddy Veith (50.65) of Princeton.

200 Breaststroke

In a déjà vu from last night’s 100 breast final, the two middle lanes of the pool in tonight’s 200 breast final will belong to Harvard’s Stephanie Ferrell (2:14.97) and Yale’s Paulina Kaminski (2:16.04). Geordie Enoch (Harvard), Kristine Ng (Columbia), Ali Stephens-Pickeral (Yale), Ellie Grimes and Sydney Tan (both Penn), and Melissa Fulenwider (Princeton) will also compete in tonight’s championship. It took 2:19.09 to make the cutoff.

200 Butterfly

This will be a thrilling final, given that only .21 separate 1-5, which isn’t a lot over 200 yards. The top qualifying time came from Princeton’s Elsa Welshofer (1:59.30). The other sub-2:00 qualifiers were Sydney Hirschi (Yale), Gina Matsumoto (Brown), Isla Hutchinson-Maddox (Yale), and Morgan Karetnick (Princeton). Trudi Patrick (Columbia), Taylor Sneed (Penn), and Christina Ray (Columbia) also made the A final. Ray’s 2:01.63 was the dividing line.

Team Standings After Day Two

Heading into the final session, here are the standings:

1. Harvard University 924.5
2. Yale University 915.5
3. Princeton University 914.5
4. University of Pennsylvania 664
5. Columbia University 543
6. Brown University 514
7. Cornell University 409
8. Dartmouth College 391.5