Harvard vs. Brown
- November 1, 2024
- Providence, RI
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Score: Harvard, 164 – Brown, 136
- Full Results
After a scrimmage against MIT and Northeastern last weekend, the Harvard women officially opened their 2024-25 season with a win against Brown University in a match-up between the 2nd and 4th place teams from the 2024 Women’s Ivy League Championship. Each team won seven events in the pool; the big difference came on the diving boards, where the Crimson swept the top four spots on 1-meter and went 1-2-4-5 on 3-meter.
Jenna Reznicek (25.91), Gillian Tu (28.51), Zehra Bilgin (24.70), and Audrey Chung (23.08) got Brown off to a hot start, winning the 200 medley relay in 1:42.20, .42 seconds ahead of Harvard’s ‘A’ relay.
That kicked off a strong first half of the meet for Brown. Harvard sophomore Alexandra Bastone won in the 1000 freestyle (10:03.44), but Brown won every other event before the break between the 50 and 100 freestyle.
Crystal Yuen earned her first collegiate win in the 200 freestyle (1:50.83), and Reznick—the 2022 Ivy League champ and two-time runner-up—claimed the 100 backstroke in 54.38. Gillian Tu led from start to finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.96), then Bilgrin used a strong back half (31.25/30.99) to come from behind and win the 200 fly in 2:00.27.
Chung, a freshman, capped Brown’s streak by winning the 50 freestyle in 23.75, the only swimmer in the field under 24 seconds.
But Harvard didn’t let Brown completely run up the scoreboard—the Crimson took 2-3 in five events during the first half (200 medley relay, 100 breast, 200 fly, 50 free). They got their second win of the session in the 100 freestyle, courtesy of Sydney Lu (51.09).
Livia Venditti briefly got Brown back in the win column by swimming away from Molly Hamlin on the third 50 of the 200 backstroke and holding on for the win (1:58.66), but from there it was all Crimson. Harvard notched a 1-2 finish in the 200 breaststroke with Stephanie Iannaccone and Gabi Augustyn as the teammates swam 2:16.48 and 2:16.54, respectively.
They won every event the rest of the meet, as Bastone (500 freestyle, 4:51.62), Lu (100 butterfly, 54.78), and Iannaccone (200 IM, 2:03.86) all doubled up on event wins. Compared to Harvard’s five 2-3 finishes, Brown only went 2-3 in the 500 freestyle and 400 free relay, which also helped the Crimson on the scoresheet.
Harvard capped the meet by winning the 400 freestyle relay by four-tenths. Hamlin (51.56), Mandy Brenner (50.77), Kaylee McDonald (51.18), and Bastone (50.37) sealed the win for the Crimson with a final time of 3:23.88 to the Brown ‘A’ relay of 3:24.18.
Up Next
Both teams were back in action the next day. Harvard played host to Boston College, while Brown traveled to Yale for another Ivy League match up.
