Depth Helps Women’s Swimming to Early Lead

Although Harvard junior Molly Ward was barely touched out by Princeton’s Sarah Fraumann in the closing 400-yard medley relay, the Crimson would have the last laugh as the first day of the 2004 Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships came to an end.

Hoping just to stay close in the standings after the first six events of the competition, Harvard exceeded all expectations and finished in first place overall with 411.5 points, followed by Princeton with 385 points and Brown with 332 points. The Tigers are the four-time reigning Ivy League Champions and the only team to defeat the Crimson this season.

The second two days are historically Harvard’s strongest days, but the Crimson’s depth on Thursday outlasted the competition.

“Last year we were fourth after day one,” captain Erica DeBenedetto said. “We get better as we go on in the weekend and to be in first means great things for the rest of the meet.”

Although Harvard’s 200-yard free relay got off to a relatively slow start with a fifth place finish, freshman Emily Wilson—swimming in her first Ivy League Championship finals heat—got Harvard back on track. Wilson finished second in the 500-yard free with a time of 4:52.49, qualifying her for B-level nationals. Fellow freshman Laurin Weisenthal (4:56.25) and Kelly Blondin (4:59.08) finished ninth and 11th, respectively, followed by a 14th place finish by sophomore Michelle Bright (5:01.46).

Although Princeton held the lead after the first two events, Harvard would take over for good after six Crimson swimmers placed in the 200-yard individual medley. Freshman Stacy Blondin tied for fifth with a time of 2:06.25, followed in seventh place by senior Kate Nadeau (2:06.60). Freshman LeeAnn Chang and sophomore Jane Evans did not qualify for the finals heat after a poor performance in the morning preliminaries, but both stormed back in the evening to finish ninth and 10th respectively. Junior Emily Stapleton (14th place) and sophomore Kim Ono (23rd place) rounded out the scoring.

With the lead in hand, the Crimson continued its aggressive performance in the 50-yard freestyle. Ward—who qualified for B-level nationals and tied the varsity record of 23.42 in the first leg of the 200-yard freesyle relay in the morning preliminaries—finished second in the evening finals with 23:57. Sophomore Erin Mulkey took seventh place with a time of 24.05.

“I tied the record leading off the relay in the morning so that was a relief,” Ward said. “I was really happy to get second in the 50, I wasn’t expecting that.”

With Wilson and Ward garnering two second-place finishes thus far, Harvard notched its first victory of the day in the one-meter diving when freshman Annika Giesbrecht dove ahead of the field with a final score of 255. Junior Anne Osmun was right behind Giesbrecht with 248.9 points, finishing fourth.

The most exciting event of the meet was the closing 400-yard medley relay, which fittingly pitted a duel between Harvard and Princeton. After junior Molly Brethauer and DeBenedetto finished their backstroke and breastroke legs, Harvard was ahead of most of the field but still far behind Princeton. But junior Allison Bates stormed back in the fly and left it up to Ward to close out the race. Princeton’s Fraumann barely edged Ward at the finish, giving the Tigers the victory with a time of 3:46.32 just ahead of the Crimson’s 3:46.49.

“I saw her out of the corner of my eye the whole time,” Ward said. “I thought I would get her but she touched me out at the end.”

“Obviously we hoped to win it, but we’re still happy with second,” De Benedetto added. “It will just give us more fire for the rest of the meet in the other relays.”

Harvard will try to hold its lead today and tomorrow at Blodgett Pool.