W. Swimming Takes Third at Ivy Championships

In front of screaming crowds at Princeton University's DeNunzio Pool the Harvard women's swimming and diving team took third place at the Ivy League Championships this weekend.

In addition to finishing third at the tournament, two Crimson swimmers, freshman phenom Sarah Murphy and tricaptain Christen Deveney, set Harvard records in individual events.

The tournament was held at the Tigers' pool from Thursday through Saturday, and the Crimson swimmers could feel the hometown presence from the beginning.

"The crowd was pretty orange," first year Liz Baxter said. "The Princeton fans definitely filled up half the seats and there were a whole lot of pom-poms and orange T-shirts."

Murphy agreed that the hometown presence was strong.

"The pool was covered in black ad orange flags and they had banners up that were against every other team in the tournament," Murphy said. "But we aren't pro-Princeton, so I can't blame them."

Thursday's schedule featured eight events including the 500-yard freestyle, the 200-yard individual medley, 1-meter diving and the 400-yard medley relay. The Crimson women wasted little time establishing themselves as contenders for the laurel wreath.

Early in the day freshman Tina Weiner took eighth in the 500-yard freestyle finals with a time of 4:59.56 and junior Nancy Jo captured the same position in the 200-yard individual medley championship in 2:07.81.

Later in the day Crimson's top diver, sophomore Camila McLean, captured fifth on the 1-meter board finals while fellow sophomore Ali Shipley followed in sixth.

In the last event of the day the Crimson 400-yard medley relay team of Deveney, junior Corie Calfee, Murphy and freshman Janna McDougall narrowly defeated the home team to win the race in a time of 3:48.61 and capture the Ivy title.

"We had a little joke before the race that team was made up of the two old women and the two young girls," Murphy said. "I think it loosened us up a bit."

Calfee noted that many had not even expected the Crimson to be contenders in the final.

"I don't think any of the other teams looked to us as probable winners," Calfee said. "But Christen [Deveney] got us of to a great start and we just held the lead."

It was in the front end of the relay that Deveney set the school record in the 100-yard backstroke with as time of 57.02. Though she knew she was fast, Deveney said that she did not realize she had set the record when she climbed out of the pool.

For the tri-captain it was a sweet way to leave college swimming.

"Surrounded by a team that did so well and to also set the record--it was an amazing way to go out," Deveney said.

The second day began with continued Crimson success. The 200-yard medley relay team of Deveney, Calfee, sophomore Pia Chock and McDougall placed second with a time of 1:45.56, losing to the Princeton team by a half second.

Later in the day Murphy set the school record in the 100-yard butterfly twice with times of 55.98 in the preliminaries and 56.17 in the finals. Murphy's time on the final earned her second place.

"It was great to set the record for a couple of reasons" Murphy said. "I took off from swimming for a little less than a year before I came to Harvard so it was great to return to form. It was also great to do something for the team."

Other top Crimson performances on the second day included Jo's sixth place finish in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:51.87 and fourth and fifth place finishes in the 100-yard back stroke by Deveney and McDougall in times of 57.21 and 58.17, respectively.

Calfee came away as the top Crimson finisher of the day, however, capturing the championship in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:05:24. For Calfee it was the second top-three finish of the afternoon and the second championship in as many days.

With two successful days behind them, the Crimson women entered the third day with the hope of catching Brown and Princeton and distancing themselves from the rest of the Ivy field.

Although they did not post another top finish the Crimson were impressive in a number of races.

Freshman Weiner and Rebekah Lorenz, as well as junior Adrienne Leight took fifth through seventh in the 1,650-yard freestyle with times of 17:00.06, 17:03.29 and 17:13.29, respectively.

Deveney again proved successful with a fourth place finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:03.13.

Other notable performers in the finals of the third day included Baxter's fourth place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:19.41, and McLean's fourth place finish on the 3-meter board.

At the conclusion of the tournament Harvard sat in third place with 635.5 points, just behind first place Brown (762 points) and second place Princeton (712 points).

"It was a great finish because we distanced ourselves from the rest of the league and came closer to Princeton and Brown at the top," Calfee said.

Yale--the closest competitor behind Brown, Princeton and Harvard--could only manage 405 points, more than 200 points behind the Crimson women, to finish fourth.

The tournament also saw the realization of one of the team's season-long goals.

"Every one of our swimmers made the final--all 20 of them," Calfee said. "When the 20th person got into the final it was a great this year an it was a great feeling. Our depth has been a strength this year and it will continue to be in the future."

The NCAA tournament still remains, but announcements will not be made for over a week. Nonetheless, Crimson swimmers are looking ahead to a strong season next year.

"This is totally just a beginning for the team," Deveney said. "The freshman, sophomores and juniors are so strong that they should get second next year, and might vie for first in the coming seasons."

Though the team will await the NCAA announcement, Deveney has retired from college swimming.

"I need to take time to write my thesis," Deveney said.