2026 Ivy League Women’s Championships: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

2026 IVY LEAGUE WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Dates: Wednesday, February 18–Saturday, February 21
• Location: Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center, Providence, RI
• Defending Champions: Princeton women (3x)
• Teams: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Yale
• SwimSwam Fan Guide
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Video: ESPN+
• Recaps
  • Finals: Day 1
• Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheet

After an exciting opening session that included a new conference record from Harvard in the 200 medley relay, the first full day of action at the 2026 Ivy League Women’s Championships gets underway this morning with preliminary heats in the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free.

• Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheet

Headlining the 500 free will be the Harvard duo of Alexandra Bastone, the defending champion, and Carolina Daher, the first-year standout who owns the top time in the conference this season at 4:42.98, produced at the Minnesota Invite in December.

Bastone, who was close behind Daher at the Minnesota Invite in a time of 4:43.44, set a new season-best during a late January tri-meet with Yale and Princeton, indicating she’s rounding into form heading into these championships. The junior owns a personal best time of 4:38.75, set en route to winning the 2025 title.

Both swimmers split 1:45-point on Harvard’s 800 free relay last night, under their flat personal bests in the 200 free, which is another positive sign heading into the 500.

Penn senior Anna Moehn will be another name to watch as the 2025 runner-up, while Brown sophomore Natalie Garre will be making her Ivy League debut after winning the NCAA Division II title in the event last season with Bowdoin College.

All eyes will be on Princeton junior Eleanor Sun in the 200 IM, as she comes in as the defending champion after going a perfect three-for-three in individual titles last season, sweeping both medley events and the 200 fly.

Sun owns the conference’s top time this season in 1:56.11, more than three seconds clear of freshman teammate Sophie Segerson (1:59.25), and looked strong on last night’s 800 free relay, splitting 1:44.21, faster than she was in 2025 (1:44.65).

As it usually is, the 50 free should be a razor-thin battle with 10 swimmers seeded under 23 seconds, but the favorite without a doubt is Princeton senior Sabrina Johnston, who will be vying for her third straight title in the event.

Johnston has been as fast as 22.41 this season and owns a lifetime best of 22.07 from 2024. She had a strong fly split on Princeton’s 200 medley relay last night (22.93), faster than she was last season (23.21), but she’ll have to watch out for Harvard’s Blythe Wieclawek and Princeton teammate Sophia Sunwoo, who both split sub-22 on the free leg of Wednesday’s 200 medley relay.

Harvard’s Anya Mostek is another contender after placing 3rd last year and resetting her best time to 22.44 earlier this season. She also set a PB in the 50 back leading off last night’s 200 medley relay (24.17).

WOMEN’S 500 FREE – PRELIMS

• Ivy League Record: 4:33.24, Lia Thomas (Penn) – 2022
• Ivy League Meet Record: 4:36.37, Ellie Marquardt (Princeton) – 2020
• 2026 NCAA Cut: 4:43.70
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 4:39.47

‘A’ Final Qualifiers: 

1. Anna Moehn (Penn), 4:42.96
2. Crystal Yuen (Brown), 4:43.01
3. Alexandra Bastone (Harvard), 4:43.07
4. Carolina Daher (Harvard), 4:43.40
5. Sydney Bergstrom (Penn), 4:43.86
6. Savannah Skow (Princeton), 4:44.32
7. Natalie Garre (Brown), 4:46.22
8. Caroline Riggs (Yale), 4:46.35

The fourth and final heat of the 500 free was a quick one as it featured three of the top four qualifiers for tonight’s championship heat, led by Penn’s Anna Moehn.

Moehn, last year’s runner-up, put up a time of 4:42.96 to set a new season-best and lead the field into the final, narrowly out-touching Brown’s Crystal Yuen and Harvard’s Carolina Daher.

Yuen clocked 4:43.01 to set a new Brown program record, knocking off the 4:43.34 mark set by Natalie Garre in November while shattering her own best time of 4:46.50, also set in the fall at the Bucknell Invitational. Garre also made the final in 7th (4:46.22).

Daher, a freshman who led the conference coming into the meet, touched in 4:43.40 to advance 4th overall, less than half a second shy of her best time of 4:42.98.

Harvard junior and defending champion Alexandra Bastone paced the penultimate heat in 4:43.07 to comfortably qualify for the final in 3rd and improve on her season-best of 4:43.44.

WOMEN’S 200 IM – PRELIMS

• Ivy League Record: 1:54.72, Katie Meili (Columbia) – 2013
• Ivy League Meet Record: 1:55.09, Katie Meili (Columbia) – 2013
• 2026 NCAA Cut: 1:57.88
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 1:56.69

‘A’ Final Qualifiers: 

1. Eleanor Sun (Princeton), 1:57.67
2. Jessey Li (Yale), 1:58.83
3. Sophie Segerson (Princeton), 1:59.41
4. Katya Eruslanova (Penn), 2:00.01
5. Lucy Walker (Yale), 2:00.11
6. Hojung Yoon (Cornell), 2:00.31
7. Stephanie Iannaccone (Harvard), 2:00.33
8. Eliza Brown (Princeton), 2:00.57

Defending champion Eleanor Sun was in full control in the heats of the 200 IM, cruising to a time of 1:57.67 to lead the field into tonight’s final by over a second.

Sun leads the Ivy League this season with her time of 1:56.11, produced in late January, while her PB stands at 1:55.50 from the 2025 conference final.

Yale senior Jessey Li lowered her two-year-old best time in 1:58.83 to touch first in the penultimate heat, leading Princeton’s Sophie Segerson (1:59.41) as they advance 2-3 into the final. Li’s previous best of 1:59.56 was set at the 2024 Ivy League Championships.

Penn junior Katya Eruslanova (2:00.01) out-touched Yale junior Lucy Walker (2:00.11) in the first circle-seeded heat as they qualified 4th and 5th into the final.

Harvard’s Kiley Wilhelm, who ranks 2nd in the conference this season after going 1:56.17 in late January, opted not to contest the prelims this morning. She’ll likely be looking towards the 100 fly/100 back double on Friday, having done both at last year’s meet.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE – PRELIMS

• Ivy League Record: 21.83, Bella Hindley (Yale) – 2019
• Ivy League Meet Record: 21.83, Bella Hindley (Yale) – 2019
• 2026 NCAA Cut: 22.28
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 22.01

‘A’ Final Qualifiers: 

1. Sabrina Johnston (Princeton), 22.29
2. Anya Mostek (Harvard), 22.35
3. Sophia Sunwoo (Princeton), 22.43
4. Morgan Lukinac (Brown) / Delaney Herr (Princeton), 22.62
5. –
6. Isabella Dieffenthaller (Brown), 22.69
7. Sydney Lu (Harvard), 22.71
8. Blythe Wieclawek (Harvard), 22.77

Two-time defending champion Sabrina Johnston established herself as the swimmer to beat in the 50 free, throwing down the top time of the morning to book Lane 4 for tonight’s final.

The Princeton senior put up a time of 22.29 to register a new season-best, improving on the 22.41 she produced at the Big Al Invitational, and the time is also notably faster than she went en route to winning last year’s final (22.30), though she was quicker (22.13) in the 2025 prelims.

Harvard senior Anya Mostek, 3rd last year, clocked 22.35 to set a new lifetime best, lowering her old PB of 22.44 set in December at the Minnesota Invitational.

Princeton freshman Sophia Sunwoo touched in 22.43 to mark the fastest swim of her college career thus far, knocking a tenth off her season-best. Her PB sits at 22.19, set at the 2024 Winter Junior Championships – West. Sunwoo threw down a 21.84 anchor leg on last night’s 200 medley relay.

Two other first-years making the final were Princeton’s Delaney Herr (22.62) and Brown’s Isabella Dieffenthaller (22.69), with Dieffenthaller’s swim marking a new best time.

In addition to Sunwoo, Harvard’s Blythe Wieclawek also split sub-22 anchoring last night’s 200 medley relay (21.72), and she squeaked into the final in 8th, clocking 22.77 to edge out Penn sophomore Kayla Fu (22.78) by one one-hundredth of a second.