Princeton vs Columbia (Women)
- Friday, January 20, 2023
- New York, N.Y.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Team Score: Princeton 180, Columbia 155
Courtesy: Princeton Athletics
NEW YORK – Along with earning a 180-155 victory over Columbia, the Princeton University women’s swimming & diving team broke a pair of pool records Friday night inside the Percy Uris Natatorium.
The team of Isabella Korbly, Margaux McDonald, Liza Whitmire and Amelia Liu earned a first-place finish and set a new pool record in the 200 medley relay after finishing with a time of 1:39.88. Princeton also finished second in the 200 medley relay, with the quartet of Alexa Pappas, Heidi Smithwick, Nikki Venema and Ela Noble finishing in 1:40.22.
Meg Wheeler also set a new pool record, finished first and earned an NCAA B cut in the 400 IM after she touched the wall at 4:14.96. The Tigers earned a 1-2-3 sweep in the event, with McDonald finishing second in 4:18.42 and Noble third in 4:18.98.
Princeton also earned a 1-2-3 sweep in the 50 backstroke; Pappas finished first with a time of 25.01, Korbly second with a time of 25.02 and Johnston third with a time of 25.23.
The Tigers’ backstroke dominance continued in the 100 backstroke as Princeton earned another 1-2-3 sweep. Johnston triumphed in the event after touching the wall at 54.92, Pappas finished second in 55.12 and McDonald third in 55.46.
Another 1-2-3 sweep was claimed in the 500 freestyle as Reich finished first in 4:51.29, Wheeler second in 4:51.85 and Macey Mannion third in 5:04.25.
In the 3-meter diving, Princeton earned the top-two finishes as Charlotte Martinkus’ score of 316.50 saw her finish first, and Maddie Seltzer finished second with a score of 291.38. Martinkus also won the 1-meter diving, earning a score of 308.40 and Seltzer finished third with a score of 259.88.
Venema claimed a first-place finish in the 50 butterfly in 24.54, and Jaime Chen second in 25.39. Venema also touched the wall first in the 50 freestyle, with a time of 22.99.
The 100 freestyle saw the Tigers claim the top-two finishes, with Noble winning the event in 51.04 and Ellie Marquardt coming in second with a time of 51.45.
Marquardt touched the wall at 1:48.26 in the 200 freestyle to earn a first-place finish, while Megan Reich took third in 1:50.86.
Eliza Brown also prevailed in the 50 breaststroke, clocking in at 28.88.
The Tigers earned two out of the top three finishes in the 100 butterfly, with Liu finishing second with a time of 54.66 and Whitmire third with a time of 55.73.
Up Next
Princeton takes on Harvard (5-0, 4-0) and Yale (7-0, 5-0) beginning at 6 p.m. on Saturday, January 28, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Courtesy: Columbia Athletics
NEW YORK – The Columbia women’s swimming and diving team (3-3) was defeated by the Princeton Tigers (7-2) on Friday evening at Uris Natatorium. Princeton emerged victorious in the competition, 180-115, to hand the Lions their first loss in 2023.
“We had a lot of solid swims today,” Head Coach Diana Caskey said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to take down the Tigers. They are a really solid team. I still think we got better today in many ways, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing it pay off in the championship season.”
The evening began with the 3-meter diving event, and Alice Diakova led the way for the Lions with a score of 278.33 to place third and earn three points for Columbia. Chloe Leung and Macy Pine also scored for the Lions, placing fourth and fifth with scores of 272.20 and 269.63, respectively. Later in the night, Diakova took second in the 1-meter boards with a score of 295.43.
“All of the divers came up with strong performances today,” Head Diving Coach Scott Donie said. “Alice was particularly impressive, with one of the top 1-meter scores in school history, narrowly missing the record by five points. Its also always an awesome day when we honor our seniors. ”
Columbia’s first individual victory of the day came in the 100-fly, when senior Karen Liu got to the wall first with a time of 54.42.
One of Columbia’s best races of the night was the 100-breast, in which they finished one, two and three. Ashley Hu led the way, clocking in at 1:03.52. She was followed by Liu in second (1:04.44) and Allegra Walker in third (1:04.50).
Later on, the Lions also earned a sweep in the 200-IM, paced by Walker who took first with a time of 2:07.03. Behind her was Hu (2:07.65) and Taylor Whang (2:08.66).
Columbia finished the night with a first place finish and pool record performance in the 200-free relay. The team of Emily MacDonald, Isabelle Arevalo, Georgia Young, and Sally Ma touched the wall at 1:31.56, nearly breaking the program record as well.
SENIOR SALUTE
Prior to this evening’s meet, the swimming and diving team honored its eight seniors. This includes Isabelle Arevalo, Isabella Fratesi, Olivia Jubin, Tina Le, Karen Liu, Jessica Peng, Olivia Ricard, and Jing Tan.
“We were so excited to honor this group of seniors who have made a big impact on the program with their performances, leadership and ability to pivot and reframe with all the challenges that the pandemic gave us in the middle of their college careers,” Caskey said. “They are all great athletes with big hearts.”
ON DECK
The Lions will hit the road for their regular season finale on Saturday, January 28 against Dartmouth. The meet will begin at noon in Hanover, New Hampshire,
KEEPING UP WITH THE LIONS
For the latest on the Columbia women’s swimming and diving program, follow @CULionsWSD and @CULionsDiving on Instagram and Twitter, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
