2025 Ivy League Women’s Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

2025 Ivy League Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, February 19–Saturday, February 22
• Prelims 11AM; Finals 6PM
• Location: DeNunzio Pool, Princeton, NJ
• Defending Champions: Princeton women (2x)
• Championship Central
• Fan Guide
• Pre-scratch Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live Video: ESPN+
• Live Recaps: Day 1 Finals ׀ Day 2 Finals
• Official Results (PDF): Day 1 Finals ׀ Day 2 Finals

FRIDAY EVENING HEAT SHEETS

DAY 3

The action continues in Princeton, as the Tigers still look on pace to take home a 3rd-straight conference title. The host team has 17 swimmers returning for finals tonight, 12 of whom will swim in A finals. Despite only having one top seed in the pool tonight — defending 400 IM champion Dakota Tucker (4:08.74) — Princeton’s depth looks formidable compared to the rest of the league.

Harvard has the second most top seeds tonight between Alexandra Bastone (200 free, 1:46.80), Aleksandra Denisenko (100 breast, 1:00.77), and Anya Mostek (100 back, 52.39).

The final top qualifier of the morning is Yale’s Alex Massey in the 100 fly (52.88).

Women’s 100 Yard Butterfly – Finals

• Ivy Meet record: 51.57, Alexandra Forrester, Yale, 2013
• Ivy League record: 51.57, Alexandra Forrester, Yale, 2013
• NCAA “A” standard: 50.52
• 2024 NCAA Invite time: 51.88
• 2024 Ivy League Champion: Lillian Klinginsmith, Brown – 52.53

1. Sydney Lu, Harvard – 52.04
2. Heidi Smithwick, Princeton – 52.71
3. Alex Massey, Yale – 52.82
4. Lillian Klinginsmith, Brown – 52.94
5. Mandy Brenner, Harvard – 53.22
6. Veronique Rossouw, Princeton – 53.28
7. Lilly Derivaux, Yale – 53.39
8. Zehra Bilgin, Brown – 53.40

Sydney Lu of Harvard stormed to her first Ivy League title in this event after two runner-up finishes in as many years.

Lu jumped out to an early lead (24.40), three-tenths ahead of 2024 champion Lillian Klinginsmith (24.72). She went on to swim the third strongest closing 50 of the field to finish in a new personal best (52.04).

Heidi Smithwick (Princeton) and Alex Massey (Yale) both had strong finishes to pull past Klinginsmith, who settled for 4th.

Kayla Fu (Penn) swam 52.58 to win the B-final, just 0.04-seconds off her entry time which ranked her #1 on the psych sheet.

Kiley Wilhelm picked up some key points for Harvard with her C-final win (54.84).

Women’s 400 Yard Individual Medley – Finals

• Ivy Meet record: 4:06.15, Alicia Aemisegger, Princeton, 2009
• Ivy League record: 4:02.47, Alicia Aemisegger, Princeton, 2009
• NCAA “A” standard: 4:03.62
• 2024 NCAA Invite time: 4:10.74
• 2024 Ivy League Champion: Dakota Tucker, Princeton – 4:07.32

1. Eleanor Sun, Princeton – 4:06.22
2. Dakota Tucker, Princeton – 4:07.83
3. Sumner Chmielewski, Brown/Meg Wheeler, Princeton – 4:12.97 (TIE)
4. —
5. Eunice Lee, Yale – 4:13.84
6. Katya Eruslanova, Penn – 4:17.02
7. Payton Foster, Harvard – 4:20.39
8. Stephanie Iannaccone, Harvard – 4:22.35

Princeton showed out in the 400 IM, sweeping the top three steps of the podium led by sophomore Eleanor Sun.

Sun led the race from start to finish, though 2024 champion and teammate Dakota Tucker was right with her the whole way. Sun never let Tucker get too close, staying around a second ahead at each split.

Sun has now swept the IM events at these championships, adding to her 200 IM win last night.

A third Tiger, Meg Wheeler, tied with Brown’s Sumner Chmielewski for 3rd (4:12.97). Chmielewski’s performance broke her own team record.

Hojung Yoon of Cornell had a huge swim to win the B-final. Swimming out of lane 7, the sophomore set a best time and a new team record (4:15.54).

Penn’s Sydney Bergstrom won the C-final (4:19.43).

Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle – Finals

• Ivy Meet record: 1:43.12, Lia Thomas, Penn, 2022
• Ivy League record: 1:41.93, Lia Thomas, Penn, 2021
• NCAA “A” standard: 1:42.60
• 2024 NCAA Invite time: 1:44.80
• 2024 Ivy League Champion: Morgan Lukinac, Brown – 1:45.49

1. Alexandra Bastone, Harvard – 1:46.33
2. Anna Moehn, Penn – 1:46.86
3. Jenna Walter, Princeton/Molly Hamlin, Harvard – 1:46.91 (TIE)
4. —
5. Crystal Yuen, Brown – 1:46.92
6. Zehra Bilgin, Brown – 1:47.76
7. Natalie Farquhar, Princeton – 1:47.97
8. Emily Macdonald, Columbia – 1:48.47

Alexandra Bastone picked up her second Ivy League title of the meet and her career after winning the 500 free last night.

The sophomore got out to a quick start, turning in 51.27 despite her distance background. She continued to lead through the 150, but fell off the pace coming home with the second slowest closing split of the field. Still, Bastone had built up enough of a lead by that point and hit the wall first (1:46.33).

Anna Moehn (Penn) tried to catch Bastone, but ran out of room to overcome the 1.5-second deficit at the 150.

Like the 400 IM, there was another tie for 3rd in this event. Molly Hamlin (Harvard) and Jenna Walters (Princeton) turned in matching times (1:46.91). Notably, Hamlin had the fastest closing split of the field (26.92) to lift herself from 5th.

Kaylee McDonald won the B-final for Harvard (1:48.10), dropping almost exactly a second from her morning effort to out-touch earlier leaders Anna Podurgiel (1:48.40) and Kelly Dolce (1:48.61).

Jenna Jacobs (Penn) won the C-final (1:50.23).

Women’s 100 Yard Breaststroke – Finals

• Ivy Meet record: 58.44, Katie Meili, Columbia, 2013
• Ivy League record: 58.44, Katie Meili, Columbia, 2013
• NCAA “A” standard: 58.01
• 2024 NCAA Invite time: 59.75
• 2024 Ivy League Champion: Margaux McDonald, Princeton – 1:00.20

1. Aleksandra Denisenko, Harvard – 1:00.21
2. Jessey Li, Yale – 1:00.49
3. Ashley Hu, Columbia – 1:01.05
4. Gabi Augustyn, Harvard – 1:01.39
5. Devyn Sargent, Yale – 1:01.81
6. Ellie Brault, Brown – 1:01.96
7. Eliza Brown, Princeton – 1:01.99
8. Kate Handley, Penn – 1:02.01

Another event went to the Crimson, as Aleksandra Denisenko clocked a new personal best to win the 100 breast (1:00.21).

Denisenko turned in 1st (28.30) and didn’t look back. That is the senior’s second title in the event in her career; her first was in 2022 during her freshman year.

2023 Ivy Champion Jessey Li (Yale) settled for 2nd (1:00.49), but still well ahead of Columbia’s Ashley Hu (1:01.05).

Isabella Pytel of Penn won the B-final in 1:01.51.

The C-final went to Brown’s Kaitlyn Holmes (1:03.64).

Women’s 100 Yard Backstroke – Finals

• Ivy Meet record: 52.14, Bella Hindley, Yale, 2019
• Ivy League record: 52.14, Bella Hindley, Yale, 2019
• NCAA “A” standard: 50.66
• 2024 NCAA Invite time: 52.28
• 2024 Ivy League Champion: Anya Mostek, Harvard – 52.15

1. Anya Mostek, Harvard – 52.13 Meet and League Record
2. Jenna Reznicek, Brown – 52.25
3. Sabrina Johnston, Princeton – 52.80
4. Isabella Korbly, Princeton – 53.13
5. Alexa Pappas, Princeton – 53.26
6. Quinn Murphy, Yale – 53.28
7. Molly Hamlin, Harvard – 53.34
8. Edie Simecek, Princeton – 53.50

It took the last individual event of the session for a 2024 champion to defend their title, but Anya Mostek got the job done in the 100 back to nab the three-peat.

Mostek was out quick in 25.21 and managed to hold off a strong finish from Brown’s Jenna Reznicek for the win (52.13). Her time eclipses both the meet and league record, set by Yale’s Bella Hindley in 2019.

Reznicek’s swim was a new personal best as well, chopping about two-tenths of a second from her freshman year swim in this event when she won the title (52.25).

Princeton’s Sabrina Johnston rounded out the podium (52.80).

A pair of freshmen won the B and C finals: Devyn Sargent of Yale (53.67) and Nadia Thomas of Brown (54.20).

Women’s 400 Yard Medley Relay – Timed Finals

• Ivy Meet record: 3:32.72, Harvard (Passadyn, Yegher, Dahlke, Quist), 2020
• Ivy League record: 3:32.72, Harvard (Passadyn, Yegher, Dahlke, Quist), 2020
• NCAA “A” standard: 3:30.89
• 2024 Ivy League Champion: 3:33.65, Harvard (Mostek, Denisenko, Lu, Brenner)

1. Harvard – 3:33.69
2. Princeton – 3:35.64
3. Yale – 3:35.78
4. Brown – 3:36.64
5. Penn – 3:38.79
6. Columbia – 3:41.56
7. Dartmouth – 3:41.69
8. Cornell – 3:43.44

Loaded with a team of three individual event winners from tonight, no one was catching Harvard in the 400 medley relay. Swimming out of lane 2, the Crimson put together a new DeNunzio pool record to close the night.

Anya Mostek started by firing off another Ivy League record, lowering her own 100 back time set less than an hour earlier (52.02). She handed things off to Aleksandra Denisenko, who threw down a 59.69 for a field-leading breaststroke split. Sydney Lu split 52.86 on the fly leg, and by that time the Crimson had over a two second lead on the rest of the heat. Mandy Brenner brought them home (49.12). The same quartet also took home the title at last year’s championships.

Princeton and Yale were locked in a duel in the center of the pool. Backstrokers Isabella Korbly (53.23) and Quinn Murphy (53.26) were nearly even at the exchange, but the Bulldogs’ Jessey Li split the only other sub-1:00 breaststroke effort to give her team exactly a 1.5-second lead at the midway point.

The Tigers started to close the gap with 400 IM champion Eleanor Sun (53.01), and anchor Ela Noble dropped the hammer (48.14) to nab silver by just 14-hundredths of a second.

The fastest fly split of the field came from 5th-place Penn’s Kayla Fu (52.45).

Team Scores After Day 3:

1. Princeton – 964
2. Harvard – 873.5
3. Yale – 669.5
4. Brown – 661.5
5. Penn – 623
6. Columbia – 387
7. Dartmouth – 345.5
8. Cornell – 298