Forrester, 200-yard Freestyle Relay Both Win
Preliminary
Results
Final
Results
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Bulldogs are off to
their best start in recent memory at the Ivy League Swimming and
Diving Championships. Yale (353) currently sits in second
place, just 37 points behind Princeton (390) and five points ahead
of Harvard (348). Freshman Alex Forrester won her first
individual Ivy League Championship title in the 50-yard freestyle
and Yale's 200-yard freestyle relay team also took first, narrowly
inching out Princeton. Yale put at least two swimmers in
every A final and managed to score points in B and C finals in
every event, as well.
"The first day is usually one of our weaker days," said Robert
J.H. Kiphuth Director of Swimming Frank Keefe. "At this time
during the meet, we are usually 150 points down to Harvard and
Princeton. But, our girls swam terrific today. We had
18 out of our 19 swimmers come back and score points in the night
session. It is fun to be right in the thick of things."
Morning
Preliminaries
The Bulldogs put up a strong showing in the morning prelims,
managing to get at least two swimmers into every A final.
They opened the morning with the 500-yard freestyle. Freshman
Molly Albrecht had only swum this event once in competition all
year, but was entered in it Thursday morning and came away with the
third fastest time and an NCAA B cut. Her time of 4:47.67 was
the fastest of any Yale swimmer this year by almost 10
seconds. Freshman Joan Weaver, a regular in the 500-yard
freestyle, also made it through to the A final with her time of
4:52.42. Her time was a five second improvement over her
personal best and good enough for sixth in the prelims. Yale
also placed swimmers in the B and C finals. Senior Laura
Grigereit finished 16th, taking the last spot in the B
final and sophomore Abigail Nunn took 21st for a spot in
the C final. Joining Nunn in the C final was also junior
Annie Killian.
"Molly has only swam this event in competition once all year,"
said Keefe. "So I was a bit surprised when she told me her
third event was going to be the 500-yard freestyle, but I'm pretty
sure she went out and broke the Yale record. It was a
terrific swim for her. Joan also put together a terrific
swim, and I believe she also broke the previous Yale record."
In the 200-yard IM, senior Susan Kim and sophomore Hayes Hyde
both made it through to the A final. Kim finished in fifth
with a time of 2:03.01 and Hyde came in right behind her in sixth
with a time of 2:03.22. Sophomore Athena Liao made it through
to the B final and juniors Kristin Darwin and Ileana Lucos both
made it into the C final.
The Bulldogs first big individual finish of the meet came in the
50-yard freestyle. Forrester made a statement in the morning
prelims inching out Megan Waters of Princeton to take first and
earn a spot in the A final. Her time was 22.71 and good
enough for an NCAA B cut. Sophomore Emily Dominski, who
missed last year's Ivy League Championship due to injury, also made
it through to the A final. She tied for fourth with a time of
23.39. Yale also placed two swimmers in the B final, senior
captain Andrea Clifford and freshman Cynthia Tsay.
The final preliminary event of the day was the three-meter
diving. Three Yale divers were able to crack the top
ten. Freshman Paige Meneses took fourth with a score of
247.85. Sophomores Rachel Rosenberg and Lisa Andrekovich
finished in eighth and ninth, respectively. Rosenberg's score
was 242.75, while Andrekovich's was 235.20. Meneses and
Rosenberg both advanced to the A final while Andrekovich was at the
top of the B final.
Evening Finals
The Bulldogs opened the first day of finals with their loudest
statement of the year. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of
Forrester, Dominski, Tsay and Clifford took first with a time of
1:32.70, earning themselves an NCAA B cut by .06 seconds and
breaking the Yale record. The Bulldogs led from start to
finish, but in the end only inched out Harvard by .03
seconds. It was Clifford who managed to hold off a charging
Ali Slack from Harvard and touch the wall by the smallest of
margins. The Bulldogs earned 64 points for their efforts and
opened the meet in first place.
Albrecht managed to maintain her position from the morning in
the 500-yard freestyle and claim third, while Weaver jumped up one
spot to fifth. Albrecht's time was slightly slower than the
morning at 4:48.08, but still under the NCAA B cut line.
Weaver substantially improved her time in the afternoon jumping
from 4:52.51 to 4:50.5, earning herself an NCAA B cut. The
two girls combined for a total of 52 points. Yale also picked
up points from Grigereit who finished 16th overall, Nunn
who finished 21st and Killian who took
24th. Yale fell drastically in the standings,
however, as Princeton placed five girls into the A final and
Harvard placed four in the B final. At the end of the second
event, Princeton led with a score of 181. Yale trailed
Harvard (152) in third with a score of 132.
"Abby Nunn is swimming with a couple cracked ribs and actually
has a brace on under her suit," said Keefe. "To score points
in this event when she is struggling to get air into her lungs is
just spectacular. Most girls would be on injured reserve."
Kim made a big move in the 200-yard individual medley final to
close the gap on Harvard. She jumped two spots to take third
in the event with a time of 2:01.43. Her time earned her an
NCAA B cut in the event and was a 1.58 second drop from her
preliminary time. Hyde held strong in fifth for the Bulldogs
with a time of 2:03.01, also an improvement from the morning.
Yale also picked up points from Liao who finished in
16th, Lucos who took 18th and Darwin who
finished 21st. Unfortunately, Princeton still
managed to place three girls in the A final and continued to widen
their lead. After three events, Princeton was in first with
281 points, Harvard in second with 209 points and Yale in a close
third with 206 points.
"Susan and Hayes both had great swims for us in the 200-yard
IM," said Keefe. "Susan came close to breaking the Yale
record and Hayes swam 2:03.01 which is great for her after having a
bit of a rough year."
Things turned around for Yale in the 50-yard freestyle, as the
Bulldogs reclaimed second place and inched closer to
Princeton. Yale won its first individual event of the meet
and Forrester won her first Ivy League title. Forrester
claimed the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.73, beating out
Waters by .19 seconds. Dominski also came up with a big
finish for the Bulldogs, dropping .12 seconds off her morning time
to claim third. Tsay managed to win the B final and take
ninth overall with a time of 23.65. Had she been in the A
final her time would have been good enough for seventh place.
Clifford also scored double digit points for Yale with her
15th place finish. With Princeton only placing one
swimmer in the A final and one in the B final, Yale made a big move
back up the leaderboards. After four events, Princeton was
still in first with 326 points, but Yale was in a much closer
second at 297. Harvard rounded out the top three with 294
points.
In the consolation championship for the three-meter diving,
Andrekovich put up 206.75 points to take 7th.
To close out the night, the Bulldogs put up another strong relay
performance, this time in the 400-yard medley relay. Yale
took second in the event, just over a second behind
Princeton. Their time of 3:40.76 earned them an NCAA B cut
and would have set the meet record, pool record, and Ivy League
record, if Princeton had not won. Instead, Princeton set all
three of those records, breaking their own record from last
year. Dominski started things off for the Bulldogs in the
backstroke and was followed by Kim at breaststroke, Forrester at
butterfly, and Tsay at freestyle.
At the end of the day, Yale was holding strong in second place
with 353 points. They sit just 37 points behind Princeton who
leads with 390. Harvard is right on Yale's tail, however, in
third with 348 points. At this stage, it is already a three
horse race with no other Ivy League team over 200 points, except
for Penn at 209.5.
Tomorrow's events will include the 200-yard medley relay,
1000-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, 100-yard
butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-breaststroke, 100-yard
backstroke, three-meter diving finals and 800-yard freestyle
relay.
"Tomorrow we've got two divers in the three-meter finals which
will be a big help," said Keefe. "It will also be a big day
for Susan in the 100-breaststroke. The 200-yard medley relay
has also been an exciting event for us all year. We've really
been flying, and it would be nice to start tomorrow's night session
off with a win in that event."
Look for Kim to pick up her first win of the championship in the
100-breaststroke and for Forrester to rewrite the record books and
possibly earn herself an NCAA A cut in the 100-yard butterfly.
Report filed by Charles Moore '10, Yale Sports
Publicity
