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 │ Day 3 results │ Day 4 results
- Championship Central
Day Four
Harvard made the most of their Blodgett Pool home advantage from Day One onward. The Crimson’s depth proved too much to counter; they finished each of the four days in first place and wound up taking home the team title by a comfortable margin. It was the Harvard women’s 13th Ivy League team title and the third in the last five years.
1650 Yard Freestyle
- Meet Record: 15:57.34 2009 Alicia Aemisegger (Princeton)
- Pool Record: 15:50.23 1981 Kim Linehan (Longhorn)
In her last race as a Bulldog, Yale’s Cailley Silbert defended her 1650 title with a 16:20.01 win over teammate Kendall Brent (16:22.12). Silbert became the 10th four-time Ivy League champion, and the first to four-peat in the mile.
Harvard’s Michelle Owens finished third, half a pool length behind the leaders (16:36.80). Fourth to the wall was Cornell senior Micaela Luders, who downed a 25-year-old school record with her 16:39.83.
200 Yard Backstroke
- Meet Record: 1:55.14 2016 Lindsay Temple (Princeton)
- Pool Record: 1:55.53 2006 Julia Smit (Three Village SC)
A year after Yale swept the gold, silver and bronze medals in this event, Penn freshman Quinn Scannell broke the meet, pool, and Penn school records with her 200 back time of 1:54.64. Scannell came from behind over the final 50 yards to snatch victory away from Princeton’s Lindsay Temple, who also finished under the meet, pool, and Princeton program records with 1:54.95. Third place went to 2017 Ivy League Champion Heidi VanderWel of Yale (1:56.11). Brown’s Sarah Welch broke her own school record (1:58.20), finishing in 1:58.04 for sixth place.
100 Yard Freestyle
- Meet Record: 48.64 2017 Bella Hindley (Yale)
- Pool Record: 48.67 2013 Sara Li (Harvard)
After placing second a year ago, Harvard’s Miki Dahlke touched out meet record-holder Bella Hindley of Yale, 48.64 to 49.05. Dahlke broke the Blodgett Pool and Harvard program records and tied Hindley’s championship record from 2017 with her third individual title of the meet. Princeton’s Maddy Veith finished third with 49.16. Columbia’s Mary Ashby (49.88) came to the wall just ahead of Brown’s Maddie Salesky (49.94).
200 Yard Breaststroke
- Meet Record: 2:09.37 2010 Susan Kim (Yale)
- Pool Record: 2:09.37 2010 Susan Kim (Yale)
Yale’s Cha O’Leary continued her domination of the Ivy League breaststroke events; with her 2:11.26 victory in the 200 breast at Blodgett Pool she has now won the 100/200 breast double in each of the last two championship meets. Dartmouth freshman Mackenzie Stumpf was runner-up in 2:12.61, while Harvard’s Jaycee Yegher (2:13.05) took third.
200 Yard Butterfly
- Meet Record: 1:54.60 2013 Alex Forrester (Yale)
- Pool Record: 1:52.99 1981 Mary T. Meagher (Lakeside)
Princeton’s Joanna Curry won the final swimming event, leading a 1-2 Tiger sweep. Curry blasted out to an early lead, turning 2/10 ahead of 2017 champion Brittany Usinger at the 50. By the 100 wall she was a full second ahead of Usinger, who was trying to fend off Yale’s Maddy Zimmerman and Princeton’s Elaine Zhou. Curry led the field by 1.6 seconds at the 150 wall, while much jockeying was going on in the race for second place. Zhou outsplit Curry by 1 second and Zimmerman by .5 over the final 50 yards. Curry’s lead proved too much to overcome; she won in 1:57.95 while Zhou went 1:58.47 for second. Zimmerman touched in 1:58.99, holding off Usinger (1:59.06) for third place.
3-Meter Diving
- Meet Record: 360.55 2015 Caitlin Chambers (Princeton)
- Pool Record: 360.55 2015 Caitlin Chambers (Princeton)
Yale freshman Nikki Watters completed the diving sweep with 358.15 points on the 3-meter board. Teammate McKenna Tennant was runner-up with 319.60. Harvard’s Alisha Mah took third with 306.65.
400 Yard Freestyle Relay
- Meet Record: 3:17.23 2017 Yale (K. Zhou, K. Rogers, L. Margitai, I. Hindley)
- Pool Record: 3:18.25 1981 Mission Viejo (Lindzmier, Williams, Habernigg, Woodhead)
Isabel Reis (49.88), Claire McIlmail (49.59), Alisabeth Marsteller (49.96) and Veith (48.90) combined to give Princeton its first relay title since 2015, with a come-from-behind victory in the 4×100 free. The Tigers went 3:18.33, missing the pool record by .08, and touching out Harvard (3:18.78), Yale (3:18.80), and Brown (3:19.09).
Final Standings
- Harvard University 1616
- Yale University 1490.5
- Princeton University 1301
- University of Pennsylvania 921.5
- Columbia University 720
- Brown University 712
- Cornell University 606
- Dartmouth College 475
Awards
- High Point Swimmer of the Meet: Miki Dahlke of Harvard with three first-place finishes (100/200 free and 100 fly)
- Career High Point Swimmer: Yale senior Cailley Silbert
- Diver of the Meet: Nikki Watters of Yale with two first-place finishes (1-meter and 3-meter)
- Career High Point Diver: Harvard senior Jing Leung (201 career points)
