2018 Women’s Ivy League Championships Day 2: Four-peat for Penn’s Burns

2018 Women’s Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championships

• Wednesday, February 14 – Saturday, February 17
• Blodgett Pool, Cambridge, MA (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Yale (results)
• Day 1 results │ Day 2 results
• Championship Central

Harvard led the team race at the end of Day 2 of the 2018 Women’s Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championships at Blodgett Pool, but it’s a tighter team race at this juncture than it was a year ago when the Crimson led Yale by 5.5 point and Princeton by 237.5.

500 Yard Freestyle

• Meet record: 4:38.96 2009 Alicia Aemisegger (Princeton)
• Pool Record: 4:37.64 2007 Kate Ziegler (Fish)

Penn’s Virginia Burns won her fourth consecutive 500 free title, becoming only the ninth Ivy swimmer, and the first Quaker, to four-peat in an individual event at the Ivy League Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. She was the third to do it in the 500 free, after Suzanne Heizer of Yale (1993-96) and Alicia Aemisegger of Princeton (2007-10). Burns’ winning time of 4:43.42 was 1.22 seconds off last year’s pace, but 2.8 ahead of runner-up Michelle Owens of Harvard (4:46.25). Yale swept 3rd through 5th with Kendall Brent (4:47.35), Cailley Silbert (4:47.44), and Sophie Fontaine (4:48.00).

200 Yard Individual Medley

• Meet record: 1:55.09 2013 Katie Meili (Columbia)
• Pool Record: 1:57.11 1981 Tracy Caulkins (Nashville)

Geordie Enoch of Harvard reclaimed her 200 IM title in front of the home crowd at Blodgett Pool, stopping the clock at 1:59.67. She had won this event as a freshman three years ago, then ceded her place at the top of the podium to teammate Meagan Popp in 2016 and 2017. This year the pair finished 1-2, with Enoch coming from behind to touch out Popp, 1:59.67 to 1:59.90. The second wave of finishers was just as exciting: Princeton’s Joanna Curry (2:00.14) passed Yale’s Destiny Nelson (2:00.44) over the last 10 meters to place third. Isabel Reis, also of Princeton came .14 short of out-touching Nelson and scored fifth (2:00.58).

50 Yard Freestyle

• Meet Record: M 22.07 2013 Lisa Boyce, Princeton
• Pool Record: 22.45 P 2012 Lisa Boyce (Princeton)

Yale’s Bella Hindley nabbed her third consecutive gold medal in the 50 free and took down the Blodgett Pool record in the process. Hindley went 22.40, just .15 off the Yale school record she set at last year’s Ivy League Championship. Princeton’s Maddy Veith touched out Harvard’s Mei Lynn Colby, 22.83 to 22.84, for second place. Harvard’s Ingrid Wall (22.94) and Brown’s Maddie Salesky (22.98) were also under the 23-second mark.

1-Meter Diving

• Meet record: 314.20 2016 Mikaela Thompson (Harvard)
• Pool Record: 324.15 1987 Jenny Greene (Harvard)

Harvard had four divers in the top-8 but it was Yale’s two, freshman Nikki Waters (293.35) and junior Hannah Walsh (288.85), who shone, placing first and third, respectively. Defending champion Mikaela Thompson of Harvard was runner-up with 288.85 points. Princeton also had two divers in the top-8. The only non-HYP divers in the top-16 were Cornell’s Erika LaCasse, Brown’s Julia Benz, and Dartmouth’s Allison Green, who finished 14th-16th.

200 Yard Freestyle Relay

• Meet record: 1:29.69 2017 Yale (I. Hindley, K. Rogers, M. Zimmerman, K. Zhou)
• Pool Record: 1:31.10 2015 Princeton (E. McDonald, N. Larson, K. Mulligan, M. Veith)

Despite a 22.34 leadoff from star sprinter Hindley, the Yale Bulldogs were unable to hold off Harvard over the final 50 yards of the 200 free relay. The Crimson’s Colby (23.02), Wall (22.43), Jerrica Li (22.72), and Miki Dahlke (22.33) clocked a winning 1:30.50 and took a .60 chunk out of the pool record. Yale’s Hindley, Maddy Zimmerman, Kate Rogers and Claire O’Mara finished second with 1:30.73.

Brown’s Salesky, Taylor Seaman, Jessie Blake-West, and Marley Cross slipped past Princeton (Reis, Veith, Elsa Welshofer, and Lindsay Temple) to take third for the second year in a row. Their time of 1:31.21 broke the school record.

Standings after Day Two:

1. Harvard University 545
2. Yale University 503
3. Princeton University 472
4. University of Pennsylvania 295
5. Brown University 277
6. Columbia University 222
7. Cornell University 212
8. Dartmouth College 164