2014 Women’s Ivy League Championship
From the very beginning of the three-day meet it looked like the Ivy Championship would again go either to Princeton or to Harvard. A glance through the psych sheet would lead one to believe that Harvard might have a slight lead over Princeton at the conclusion of Thursday’s finals, a huge lead after Friday, and a much more narrow lead on Saturday. But championships aren’t played out on paper and when you add determination, luck, and other factors to the mix… and when you have two competitors as evenly matched as Princeton and Harvard… well, it could really go either way. Last year Princeton executed its game plan flawlessly; this year everything went Harvard’s way. An extra “A” finalist here, a better-than-expected relay there, great diving, and all-around solid swimming all contributed to the Crimson’s victory.
In fact, Princeton took the lead on Thursday after a strong prelims and even stronger finals. They managed to get 18 swimmers into finals, 8 of which were “ups,” and picked up approximately 50 points over the psych sheet. Harvard and Columbia were expected to be the big winners of Friday’s events, but Brown, Cornell, Penn and Dartmouth were the ones who came out with better performances than one might have predicted. Harvard had moved into first place by the end of Friday, as one might have expected. But they weren’t that far out of reach, and a perfect Saturday from Princeton might have knocked the Crimson back down to second.
It was going to be an exciting Saturday.
Harvard, Yale, Penn and Cornell all had a strong final day. Their big point winners came through as expected, and they each had a few positive surprises as well. All told it was a great meet and served to showcase the incredible talent pool that resides in the Ivy League.
Yale sophomore Eva Fabian kicked off the final session of the championship with a victory in the mile. Showing just how far Yale has come, three of the top four milers were Elis: Casey Lincoln finished second and Isla Hutchinson-Maddox was fourth.
Harvard’s Danielle Lee, who had also won the 100 back on Friday, broke the pool record with her 1:55.70 victory in the 200 back. Second place went to Yale’s Michelle Chintanaphol who touched out Princeton’s Sada Stewart, 1:58.28 to 1:58.38, thanks to a strong last 50.
In the 100 free Princeton’s Lisa Boyce set a pool record, winning in 48.92. Shelby Fortin of Penn won a hard-fought battle for second against Jenna Immormino of Cornell, overtaking her on the last 25 and winning 49.42 to 49.56.
Briana Borgolini of Brown swam a patient and well-split 200 breast to win the event in 2:14.55. She was a half-second ahead of second-place Stephanie Ferrell of Harvard and nearly two ahead of Yale’s Ali Stephens-Pickeral.
Yale freshman Sydney Hirschi wrapped up the individual events with a 1:57.33 win in the 200 back. Nikki Larson of Princeton took second; Penn senior Taylor Sneed was third.
Caitlin Chambers of Princeton garnered the highest score in three-meter diving; Lilybet MacRae of Yale, who had won the one-meter, came in second.
Princeton won the 400 free relay in a pool-record time of 3:19.68. Lisa Boyce was out in 49.59, followed by Liz McDonald (50.03), Mallory Remick (50.65), and Nikki Larson (49.41). Second place went to Penn; third to Dartmouth.
The High Point Swimmer of the Meet Award went to Lisa Boyce and Eva Fabian, both of whom had 92 points. Yale’s Lilybet MacRae was named High Point Diver of the Meet. Boyce won the Career High Point Award, having scored 371 individual points in four years, including nine individual event titles. And the Career High Point Diver Award went to Rachel Zambrowicz of Princeton.
Final Standings
1. Harvard 1409
2. Princeton 1384
3. Yale 1163
4. Columbia 945
5. Penn 882
6. Brown 792.5
7. Cornell 662
8. Dartmouth 535
