Harvard’s Anya Mostek Becomes 1st Sub-52 100 Backstroker in Ivy History, and She Does it Twice

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
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• Live Video: ESPN+

FRIDAY NIGHT HEAT SHEETS

Women’s 100 Yard Backstroke – Finals

• Ivy League Record: 52.02, Anya Mostek (Harvard) – 2025
• Ivy League Meet Record: 52.02, Anya Mostek (Harvard) – 2025
• 2026 NCAA Cut: 52.65
• 2025 NCAA Invite Time: 51.68
• 2025 Champion: Anya Mostek (Harvard), 52.13

Podium:

1. Anya Mostek (Harvard), 51.31
2. Amy Qin (Penn), 52.15
3. Sabrina Johnston (Princeton), 52.58
4. Delaney Herr (Princeton), 52.77
5. Kate Levensten (Penn), 52.93
6. Brianna Cong (Penn), 53.41
7. Edie Simecek (Princeton), 54.13
8. Blythe Wieclawek (Harvard), 54.79

Harvard senior Anya Mostek pulled off a double feat on Friday night; she became one of only a small handful of Ivy League swimmers to sweep an event all four years in a row, and she became the first Ivy League swimmer to break the 52-second barrier in the 100 backstroke.

Mostek won her fourth consecutive 100 backstroke title with an Ivy League, Ivy Meet, Harvard program, and Brown pool record, crushing her lifetime best with a winning time of 51.31. Out in 24.77, she came home with 26.54 to win the event by .84 over Amy Qin of Penn.

In 2025, Mostek won the Ivy 100 back crown with 52.13, nipping the Ivy League and Ivy meet record, which Yale’s Bella Hindley had set in 2019 with 52.14, by a hundredth. She then lowered her new conference and meet mark to 52.02 while leading off the Harvard 400 medley relay an hour later.

In 2024, she went 52.15 to win the individual event and led off the relay in 52.61. In 2023, the freshman clocked a winning 52.77 in the individual final and split 52.62 on the relay leadoff.

Not only did Mostek become the first Ivy League swimmer to break 52 seconds, she did it again an hour later leading off the Harvard medley relay with 51.45. Mostek was just .14 slower on the relay, evenly splitting the difference between the first 50 (24.84) and the second (26.61). Her splits were still almost half a second better than 2025 on the front end and a tenth faster on the back end.

Mostek has now improved her upfront speed by .54 over the last 12 months. Her back half was .17 faster, as well, leading to an overall drop of .71. Here are the comparative splits: