W. Swimming Begins Ivy Championships

The Harvard women’s swimming and diving team faces a mighty challenge tonight as the squad attempts to capture the Ivy Championships, hosted by No. 25 Princeton.

The final meet of the season, called the Ivy Championships, could easily be known as the “Tiger Championships.”

Over the course of the last three seasons, the Tigers have dominated the waters, capturing 41 consecutive dual meet victories and each of the last three Ancient Eight titles. Princeton defeated Harvard in dual meet action on Feb. 1, 199-120. It was the most lopsided defeat of the season for Harvard (7-3, 5-2 Ivy).

The Crimson has not enjoyed parallel success over the past three seasons. Harvard’s top finish in the milennium occured last year when the Crimson placed third in the Ivy Championships, behind Princeton and Brown.

Harvard’s principal hope will rest on its depth. Last year, in a dual meet against Brown, Harvard pulled out a victory by accumulating enough second and third place points to defeat the Bears, who scored more first place finishes.

Though this approach carries less glory, it has worked in the past to win titles for other teams. Last year, the Tigers walked away with few of the individual race wins, but consistently placed swimmers in the top eight spots, earning points, however few, on each attempt.

“We’re all very aware that it’s your absolute goal to get into the finals for all your events, which is the top eight,” co-captain Rachael O’Beirne said. “If you place in the top eight in the morning, you can’t finish lower than eighth. It’s extremely important to get into the top heat.”

For the Crimson to snap Princeton’s streak, freshman sensation Jane Evans will need to turn in the dominant multi-event performances which she has turned in throughout the dual season.

Heading into tonight’s meet, Evans has touched the wall fastest among Harvard swimmers in the 200-yard breaststroke and both the 200 and 400-yard individual medleys. Evans has also turned in the squad’s second best efforts in both butterfly events.

“It seemed clear that Jane Evans will be a huge asset to our team,” O’Beirne said. “She definitely has the ability to win a few events and score a lot of points. She’s a very versatile swimmer.”

Bolstering Harvard’s swimming all season long, seasoned veteran senior Victoria Chang has led the team in the 200-yard freestyle and 1000-yard freestyle events. Her experience and Evans’ development have been at the heart of the team’s success throughout the year.

If the Crimson is to dethrone the Tigers, however, the efforts of two individuals alone will not suffice.

All year long, a different swimmer has consistently risen to the challenge of providing extra points in a given week.

In dual meets against Ivy bottom-dwellers Columbia and Dartmouth, Harvard usually needed only one “big” performance by an unhearalded swimmer to emerge victorious. However, it will take an entire team effort for Harvard to bring home the title.

“Everyone’s going to need to perform the best they can,” senior Jessi Walter said. “It’s going to take all twenty of us.”

Diving will help the Crimson remain in the hunt. Junior Renee Paradise and sophomore Anne Osmun have provided a lethal 1-2 punch on the boards for Harvard. The duo finished in the top three in both the one and three-meter events in every meet this season except for the Columbia-Dartmouth tri-meet on Nov. 16.

“I think our chances are better than last year,” O’Beirne said. “We’ve improved, and Princeton has also, so it’ll still be difficult to achieve. I think the whole team is a lot more positive though and thinks it’s within reach.”

The Crimson certainly has the potential to return from New Jersey victorious. But given Princeton’s dominance in the lanes over the last three years, it’s hard to imagine the Tigers going hungry this weekend.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.