W. Swimming Opens Season With Double Victory

The Harvard women's swimming and diving team (2-0, 2-0 Ivy) opened its season with wins against Cornell (1-1, 1-1 Ivy) and Dartmouth (0-2, 0-2 Ivy) in Ithaca on Saturday.

Competing in a tri-meet format, the Crimson downed the Big Red, 176-123. The Crimson simultaneously sank the Big Green, 225-72.

Harvard broke four pool records at Cornell's Teagle Pool in the process.

Tri-captain Pia Chock led Harvard's assault with individual wins in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:51.87, and with a 56.33 finish in the 100-yard butterfly, both for pool records.

Chock has been on fire since returning to Cambridge in September and assuming captainship.

"She's been training extremely hard, that's the reason," junior Lauren Fabian said.

Junior distance ace Rebekah Lorenz confirmed Fabian's observations.

"It's time that her hard work is finally paying off," Lorenz said. "She's not afraid of pain in her races, and that gets her to go fast."

En route to victory last week at the Crimson's scrimmage against Northeastern, Chock erased sophomore Lovisa Gustafsson's school record in the 200-yard butterfly.

Pia Chock's time of 2:03.26 erased Gustaffson's mark of 2:03.63 from the Brown dual meet last November.

Chock's individual success last week did not only carry over to her individual swims at Cornell, but it also urged on her teammates.

Chock teamed up with junior sprinter Janna McDougall and first-years Erika DeBenedetto and Kate Nadeau, to win the 200-yard medley relay in 1:50.10.

McDougall captured the 100-yard backstroke in a solid 58.92 and also the 100-yard freestyle in 52.32.

McDougall's performances at the scrimmage against Northeastern and in the freestyle Saturday were faster than her conference meet performances from last year.

"I think I'm swimming faster this season because I have an improved attitude," McDougall said. "I'm communicating better with my coach, and we are training better in practices. I'm pleased with my performances."

A strong group of experienced performers helped carry the Crimson to victory this weekend.

Sophomore Jane Humphries doubled up with wins in the 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard individual medley. She cruised to victory in 2:08.35 and 2:09.67, respectively. Humphries' time in the individual medley was a pool record.

Senior butterflyer Kirra Brandon stroked to a win in the 200-yard butterfly, touching the wall in a time of 2:08.07. Brandon also finished third in the 100-yard fly.

Second to Brandon in the 200-yard butterfly, Lovisa Gustafsson emerged from the shadows and redeemed herself by squeezing out a win in the 500 freestyle. Gustafsson bettered the field in a time of 5:08.87.

On the diving boards, the Crimson saw consistent success.

Senior Camilla McLean captured the three-meter title with 243.30 points and added a third-place finish on the one-meter. Freshman Renee Paradise was second on the one-meter.

Although it never was indicated in the meet's scores, Harvard felt that the meet did not get off to the best start.

"I think we were shaky," McDougall said. "We just weren't crisp."

Senior captain Chock agreed.

"We just were not doing things right at the beginning of the meet," Chock said.

The Crimson was slipping off the blocks at the beginning of races and swimmers' goggles were falling off their heads upon these faulty starts.

A brief team meeting halfway through the meet put the team back on course.

Although the Crimson eventually rolled past Cornell and Dartmouth with ease, Harvard will find a more challenging opponent in last year's Ivy League runner-up Brown this Friday.

"It's going to be a tough meet," McDougall said. "If we are going to win, we are going to have to do everything right and we can't make any mistakes."

The Crimson will be working with a stronger lineup against the Bears, as Coach Stephanie Wreide's strategy for the Brown dual meet will be aimed at scoring the most points possible.

Wriede will swim her athletes in their best events instead of having them swim secondary events as they did this weekend.

"We're going to have to focus on winning events and sticking to our team goals," Chock said. "We need to maintain momentum."

With standout performances from Chock and McDougall, and with consistent wins from Humphries, Gustafsson and Brandon, Harvard is prepared for a rumble

Harvard's first real test to see if it is ready to compete for the conference title will come Friday at 5 p.m. when the Crimson squares off against the Bears in Providence.

After battling Brown, the Crimson will be back at Blodgett Pool on Sunday for a matchup with Columbia at 1p.m.