W. Swimming Tosses Back Columbia

It may have been cold outside, but inside Blodgett Pool last night things were just heating up.

The Harvard women's swimming and diving teams were expecting an easy time of it against Columbia. But when one of its 200-meter medley relay teams was disqualified in the evening's first event, the Crimson had its hands full.

With five events to go, Harvard was down 71-79. But after grabbing the lead in the next event, the Crimson never looked back.

In the end the scoreboard read 129-114, but Harvard coach Maura Costin-Scalise '80 insisted that the margin was actually wider.

"Even though it was close on the scoreboard, we kept getting up and proving ourselves," Costin-Scalise said.

Costin-Scalise said that the Crimson showed its grit in its come-from-behind victory.

"The team showed its focus," Costin-Scalise said. "We just stayed on it. We got up and raced."

The turning point in the meet was junior Keiko Iwahara's second place finish in her off event, the 200 butterfly, according to Costin-Scalise.

Costin-Scalise said that she was pleased with the team's performance and that the times were fast for so early on in the season.

Although Harvard had only 6 first-place finishes out of 13 events, the Crimson swept the 200 back-stroke.

Senior co-captain Kara Miller dominated the diving events, winning both the one-meter and three-meter competitions.

When the going got rough, the Crimson began chanting and exhorting the crowd to get into the meet.

Senior co-captain Emily Buckley said that she was proud of the way the team stayed together under pressure.

"I was a little nervous at the beginning, but the second half of the meet went our way," Buckley said. "It shows our toughness. When we're down, we're not about to give up. People stood up and did events I didn't know they were capable of."

Both the coaches and the captains praised the efforts of freshman Alexis Todor, who went after the Lions' most fearsome athlete, Olympian Christina Teuscher, in the 200 breaststroke and set a personal record in the event.

As it turned out neither Todor nor the rest of the Crimson could stop Teuscher from winning all three of her events, but Costin-Scalise said that Todor's effort inspired the team.

"I didn't want to let her [Teuscher] psyche me out," Todor said. "The race felt awesome."

In the end the Crimson's depth overcame Teuscher's personal exploits.

But tomorrow, Harvard faces Brown, which Buckley called the toughest team in the Ivies.

"But coming off this meet, I think we are all ready," Buckley said. "Harvard is Brown's first meet. Right now I wouldn't want to be Brown." Columbia  114 Harvard  129