W. Swimming Dives Head-First Into Season

The Crimson swimmers and divers were on their feet, screaming as loudly as their hoarse throats would allow, and a freshman teammate battled on. It was the final night of the Ivy Championships, and the Harvard women's swimming team knew it would not get the Ivy title for which it had so desperately yearned all year.

But the Crimson had heart, and at this particular moment, it showed.

The back of freshman Lovisa Gustafsson was purple with exhaustion, but her bid for an individual Ivy title was on the line along with the team's pride. Gustafsson, swimming the most grueling event in the sport--the mile--was deadlocked with Princeton's highly touted distance ace Tara Martin.

After 15 minutes of swimming, her Harvard teammates were still cheering wildly and Gustafsson still churning until the final length when she out-touched Martin by six hundredths of a second. Harvard had its first champion of the season, and it took a team effort to garner that distinction.

"The team was tremendous during my swims," Gustafsson said. "Seeing them on every lap certainly kept me going."

The team could have given up, knowing it would not get its first Ivy title in five years, but the Crimson swimmers strove on and proved themselves to be fighters, as they had all season long.

Harvard finished the Ivy Championships in a respectable third place with 656 points, trailing Princeton and Brown, who racked up 794 and 747 points, respectively. It wasn't the desired outcome, but the Crimson triumphed in many aspects.

"We had high expectations going into the weekend," said senior co-captain Sue Machorek. "We wanted to win the meet, but we aren't disappointed because we turned in solid performances and stuck right with Princeton and Brown."

Harvard had a bevy of individual accomplishments on the weekend, including several three-event finalists. Gustafsson is joined by sophomores Janna McDougall and Liz Baxter, as well as junior Pia Chock, as the most versatile swimmers on the team--each placed in the top eight in three individual events.

The Crimson attacked from the air as well as the sea as the diving crew proved itself a formidable Ivy power once again. Junior Ali Shipley led the aerial assault, taking third in both boards at Ivies, with juniors Camila McLean and sophomore Posy Busby also recording impressive Ivy performances.

"The divers performed well with the immense pressure they were under," senior Adrienne Leight said. "It was great to see some Crimson amidst the sea of orange and black."

Although the third-place Ivy finish is nothing to brush under the rug, it was perhaps not the most rewarding achievement of the season. That moment came as the Crimson handily defeated its long time foes from Providence.

"Every season has its ups and downs," senior Nancy Jo said. "We know that we have lots of things to be proud of this year."

Beating the defending Ivy champs head-to-head is not too shabby. Harvard took control of the dual meet against Brown early by winning the opening relay and never looking back, taking the meet by a huge 193-106 margin.

"After losing the opening relay at last year's meet, we didn't want the first event to affect our momentum for the whole meet," senior Adrienne Leight said. "But it still got us really excited. That win set the wheels in motion for the next few events."

The Crimson went on to win 12 of the 16 events at the meet, leveling blow after blow upon the favored Bears. The victory was only achieved through hard work and a team effort, as exemplified by the team's breaststrokers.

"We call ourselves 'The Force,' because we have four great breaststrokers," said senior Alexis Todor. "We know that we train hard and can go fast. We wanted to sweep the 200 breast and we did."

The win against Brown proved to be a watershed moment for many of the swimmers and divers, especially the seniors who faced tough losses to Brown in their first three years.

"Our win over Brown is one of my favorite moments from swimming in college," said senior Ana Cenanovic. "When I look back on swimming at Harvard in the coming years, that meet will certainly be a highlight."

The Brown triumph has only added fuel to the fire, as Harvard now knows it can top the Ivy's best. Next year's Ivies could very well be a different story.

And as Cyril Connolly once said, "A woman's desire for revenge outlasts all her other emotions."

The Harvard women swimmers and divers already have the taste of revenge on their tongues for next year.