2022 Ivy League Women’s Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2022 Women’s Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championships

 

Women’s 500 Freestyle – Finals

  • Ivy League Record: 4:34.06 – Lia Thomas, Penn (2021)
  • Ivy Championships Record: 4:36.37 – Ellie Marquardt, Princeton (2020)
  • NCAA A Standard: 4:35.76
  • NCAA B Standard: 4:47.20

Podium:

  1. Lia Thomas, Penn – 4:37.32
  2. Catherine Buroker, Penn – 4:44.83
  3. Ellie Marquardt, Princeton – 4:46.63
  4. Anna Sofia Kalandadze, Penn – 4:47.54
  5. Ashley Loomis, Yale – 4:48.72
  6. Aziza Ganihanova, Columbia – 4:48.88
  7. Erin Cavanagh, Harvard – 4:49.04
  8. Mikki Thompson, Harvard – 4:52.59

Penn’s Lia Thomas won her first Ivy League title, dominating the field in the 500 free final with 4:37.32. That marks the eighth Penn victory in this event in 11 championships. Shelby Fortin won three in a row from 2011 to 2013 and Virginia Burns was a four-peat from 2015 to 2018. Princeton (Ellie Marquardt), Harvard (Miki Dahlke), and Yale (Eva Fabian) have each won this event once in the last ten championships.

Defending champion Ellie Marquardt of Princeton, swimming in lane 7, went out with Thomas and swam even with the leader through the 200 mark, but Thomas began to descend at that point and outsplit the field by about a second per 50 until the finish. Marquardt remained in second place until the 350, when Penn’s Catherine Buroker overtook her. Buroker finished second to her teammate Thomas (4:44.83), while Marquardt came in third (4:46.63), depriving Penn of a 1-2-3 sweep by coming in .9 ahead of Anna Sofia Kalandadze (4:47.54).

Thomas broke the Blodgett Pool record but missed Marquardt’s meet mark

Penn went 1-2 in the B final, as well, with Bridget O’Leary (4:47.77) and Amelia Girotto (4:49.88) leading the way. Olivia Jubin of Columbia, the B final winner in 2020, claimed the C final title in 4:52.20.

Women’s 200 Individual Medley – Finals

  • Ivy League Record: 1:55.09 – Katie Meili, Columbia (2013)
  • Ivy Championships Record: 1:55.09 – Katie Meili, Columbia (2013)
  • NCAA A Standard: 1:53.66
  • NCAA B Standard: 1:59.94

Podium:

  1. Samantha Shelton, Harvard – 1:58.03
  2. Felicia Pasadyn, Harvard – 1:58.25
  3. Liza Whitmire, Princeton – 1:59.29
  4. Aleksandra Denisenko, Harvard – 2:00.69
  5. Raime Jones, Yale – 2:0124
  6. Vivian Weng, Yale – 2:01.90
  7. Maggie Buckley, Harvard – 2:01.94

Defending champion Felicia Pasadyn of Harvard led throughout the first half of the race, but it was her teammate Samantha Shelton, the 2019 Ivy League champion, who out-touched her at the end and got the win in a lifetime-best time of 1:58.03. Pasadyn went 1:58.25 for second place. She won this event with 1:55.88 in 2020.

Princeton’s Jess Yeager came to the wall just a tick behind Shelton and Pasadyn but was disqualified for violating the 15m rule on the butterfly leg. Her teammate Liza Whitmire finished a second behind the leaders, the only other sub-2:00 in the final.

Margaux McDonald of Princeton won the B final (2:01.31); Columbia’s Allison Martin took the C final (2:02.67).

Women’s 50 Freestyle – Finals

  • Ivy League Record: 21.83 – Bella Hindley (2019)
  • Ivy Championships Record: 21.83 – Bella Hindley (2019)
  • NCAA A Standard: 21.66
  • NCAA B Standard: 22.76

Podium:

  1. Iszac Henig, Yale – 21.93
  2. Nikki Venema, Princeton – 22.30
  3. Samantha Scott, Brown – 22.81
  4. Christina Bradley, Princeton – 23.02
  5. Zoe Wortzman, Dartmouth – 23.03
  6. Ophelia Pilkinton, Yale – 23.05
  7. Mandy Brenner, Harvard – 23.08
  8. Amelia Liu, Princeton – 23.30

Top-seeded Iszac Henig of Yale won his first Ivy League title with a new Blodgett Pool record of 21.93. Swimming right on his shoulder the entire race was defending champion Nikki Venema of Princeton. She clocked in at 22.30, which is .11 faster than her winning time in 2020.

Brown’s Samantha Scott also came to the wall with a sub-23, touching third in 22.81. Christina Bradley of Princeton touched out Dartmouth’s Zoe Wortzman by .01 to finish fourth with 23.02.

Yale’s Lindsey Wagner went 23.12 to win the B final, while Brown’s Kellie Willhite was first to the wall in the C final with 23.38.

The 50 free has been won by either Yale or Princeton in every championship since 2010.

Women’s 1-Meter Diving – Finals

  • Ivy League Record: 314.20 – Mikaela Thompson, Harvard (2016)
  • Ivy Championships Record: 314.20 – Mikaela Thompson, Harvard (2016)
  • NCAA A Standard: 265.00

Podium:

  1. Katie Laverty, Harvard – 288.15
  2. Morgane Herculano, Harvard – 282.95
  3. Esther Lawrence, Harvard – 274.55
  4. Remi Edvalson, Harvard – 268.45
  5. Olivia Francella, Penn – 254.45
  6. Alice Diakova, Columbia / Evelyn Geier, Harvard – 249.45
  7.  –
  8. Madelyn Seltzer, Princeton – 242.75

Harvard picked up their 15th victory in 1-meter diving when Katie Laverty scored an impressive 54 points on her final dive to pass teammate and defending champion Morgane Herculano, who had led the field in prelims and had been the one to beat in each of the six rounds in the final. Harvard swept the first four spots and scored at #7 as well. Penn, Columbia, and Princeton were the three other divers in the final.

Women’s 200 Freestyle Relay

  • Ivy League Record: 1:29.69 – Yale (2017)
  • Ivy Championships Record: 1:29.69 – Yale (2017)
  • NCAA A Standard: 1:28.43
  • NCAA B Standard: 1:29.21

Podium:

  1. Yale – 1:29.66
  2. Princeton – 1:30.38
  3. Harvard – 1:31.90
  4. Penn – 1:32.45
  5. Brown – 1:32.75
  6. Columbia – 1:32.97
  7. Dartmouth – 1:33.08
  8. Cornell – 1:33.86

Yale won their fourth 200 free relay title in the last six championships and took down the Ivy League, championship meet, and Blodgett Pool records in the process. The Bulldogs got off to a quick start thanks to Iszac Henig’s leadoff of 22.29. He touched just over .7 ahead of Princeton’s Christina Bradley (23.02). Lindsey Wagner took the baton from Henig and increased Yale’s lead over second-place Princeton by another .2, splitting 22.41 to Amelia Liu’s 22.64. Behind by .9, Princeton’s Nikki Venema nearly caught Yale with the fastest split of the night, a 21.95. She closed the gap with Ophelia Pilkenton (23.43) by half a second. Yale maintained its lead to the end, though, as Marissa Healy (22.53) outsplit Jennifer Secrest (22.77) to give Yale the 1:29.66-to-1:30.38 win. Princeton’s quartet also beat the Blodgett Pool mark of 1:30.50 from 2018.

Team Scores After Day 2

  1. Harvard University – 547.5
  2. Princeton University – 409
  3. Yale University – 397
  4. University of Pennsylvania – 381
  5. Columbia University – 265.5
  6. Brown University – 254
  7. Dartmouth College – 223
  8. Cornell University – 191

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Linny
2 years ago

Gender ideology is making it almost impossible to report on any aspect of life where sex matters.

Referring to a male athlete competing in the women’s category as “she” is difficult enough, but reporting on a female competing as a man in the women’s race in the same meet in the same report? Hats off to you. Particular well done for neatly avoiding the word woman in reporting “ Top-seeded Iszak Henig of Yale won his first Ivy League title with a new Blodgett Pool record of 21.93.”

ShoeBaca
2 years ago

“Top-seeded Iszak Henig of Yale won his first Ivy”

Inside Smoke
Reply to  ShoeBaca
2 years ago

And what is wrong with that?

Ferb
Reply to  Inside Smoke
2 years ago

I was about to unequivocally agree with you, but I looked up Iszac’s time history, and it is a rather interesting progression. He went 22.76 in 2015 as a 15-year old, and by early 2020 had improved to 22.59 as a 19-year old. This season, after transitioning, he has beaten that previous lifetime best at least seven times, dropping to 21.93 at Ivy Champs. He went 22.05, 22.09, 22.20 and 22.38 in Ivy League dual meets this season. That has to be fairly unusual for a woman to blow through her old best time by that much in her senior year of college (and I know Iszac is a man, but he’s competing as a woman, so that’s the appropriate… Read more »

N80m80
Reply to  Ferb
2 years ago

All public statements have been that no hormone therapy took place, and I don’t think that the coaches or athletes would be so stupid as to blatantly lie, and I don’t think the NCAA would be so stupid as to not verify at all. There’s no reason to be suspicious of the times, Iszak is just having a very good season, which isn’t unusual for someone with 2 years of time to progress and probably a lot less stress to deal with.

Ferb
Reply to  N80m80
2 years ago

That improvement is not out of the realm of possibility, and I assume Iszac’s performances are entirely legitimate until proven otherwise. To say it’s not unusual is wrong, however. He only improved two tenths in the 50 over almost four years, and then this year he crushed that by over five tenths in dual meets, before dropping even more at Ivy’s. 22.59 to 21.93 is a very big drop for a senior in college. And I really doubt that Iszac has less stress than two years ago, given his high profile in the current NCAA swimming world.

What I’ve seen in statements is that Iszac chose to forego hormone therapy in order to continue to compete in the women’s category.… Read more »

swimapologist
Reply to  Ferb
2 years ago

It’s almost as if…you don’t understand…the weight that is on transgender individuals while they have to stay quiet.

And how that might impact their performance.

Or how the constant crushing of Lia might impact her performance.

Must be nice to be you and be so blissfully unaware of the impacts of stress (or maybe just the impacts of stress on transgender people) that you can pretend like the only way they might get better is by doping.

See why people think you’re transphobic? You hate Lia for transitioning, you hate Iszac for not. Either way, they lose.

I know you don’t WANT to be transphobic, but really, look back at your commenting history, and you’ll see a dangerous pattern emerging.

Ferb
Reply to  swimapologist
2 years ago

I don’t hate Lia at all. I wish her peace and happiness. However, she is a woman by mutual agreement, not biology, and I believe she is infringing on fair competition by competing with a man’s body in the women’s division.

I don’t hate Iszac either. As I said, I totally support his right to compete in the women’s category, and wear a kneeskin if he wants. And if his improvement this season is purely the result of hard training and mental well-being due to socially transitioning, then he deserves every accolade he achieves, and I congratulate him.

swimapologist
Reply to  Ferb
2 years ago

The fact that you make it your job to run around on the boards and try to pick and find a gap and make an accusation at the two transgender swimmers every day indicates to me that you’re not being honest about your feelings.

What would you reaction be if someone did that to, say, Simone Manuel? Or Katie Ledecky? Or Mallory Comerford?

Your actions speak louder than your words.

Everyone is going to say they don’t hate the transgender athletes, because they know if they say they hate them, their opinion will be echoed less severely. If you want us to believe you, though, you’re going to have to stop saying things like “I don’t believe what Iszak said,… Read more »

Oof
Reply to  Ferb
2 years ago

Well he did have top surgery. Probs less drag

swimfan27
2 years ago

I believe Sam Shelton was faster prior to college.

Mr. F
2 years ago

It’s amazing the number of people who suddenly have an interest in Ivy league swimming

Swimmer
Reply to  Mr. F
2 years ago

I wonder why….

Monkeyseemonkeydoodoo
2 years ago

Amazingly, not an Ivy record! Ellie Marquardt (princeton, 3rd place this year) was 4:36 at this meet in 2020. Makes you wonder if she could’ve challenged for the minor medals at NCAAs that year

Admin
Reply to  Monkeyseemonkeydoodoo
2 years ago

Ellie’s best time this season is 4:47.2, which probably won’t earn an NCAA invite.

Michelle
Reply to  Monkeyseemonkeydoodoo
2 years ago

It wasn’t amazing. It was intentional. That 4:37 was a smooth and easy swim.

Ferb
Reply to  Michelle
2 years ago

That’s what the splits would indicate.

Ganggang
2 years ago

4:20.69 she gonna show these women who’s boss. Lets go Lia

ASDFJKL;
Reply to  Ganggang
2 years ago

Don’t think enough people appreciated your comment

Monkeyseemonkeydoodoo
2 years ago

Penn mid-D / distance is incredibly deep. 5 girls 4:48(?) or better, that’s probably close to as good as any program in the nation (Stanford comes to mind, anyone else definitively deeper?)

Just heard that Penn women have won the 500 at Ivies 7 of last 10 times (not including this year). Long-standing success, on both sides with Chris Swanson winning NCAAs a few years back in the 1650

Aquatiger
Reply to  Monkeyseemonkeydoodoo
2 years ago

Penn has 3 in finals for the 500 below that time. Who are the other 2?

Monkeyseemonkeydoodoo
Reply to  Aquatiger
2 years ago

2 in the B final – excuse me, 4:49 or better

Aquatiger
Reply to  Monkeyseemonkeydoodoo
2 years ago

After both these posts were made another Penn swimmer went 4:47. Next year Penn will have 4 girls returning who are under 4:50 from this meet. That is pretty good.

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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