Shorthanded But Not Empty-Handed

Even though only half the team was there to swim, the Harvard women’s swimming and diving team just doesn’t know how to disappoint.

“We knew that we were only brining a smaller team compared to other teams,” said sophomore Jessica Davidson of the ECAC championships, held Friday through Sunday. “No one had any expectations for us, and we wanted to show them that we could compete.”

One would wonder how the Crimson—with only 12 swimmers and one diver, as the rest of the squad was at the Ivy League championships­—could perform at the ECACs, but Harvard didn’t drop the ball.

“Going into the meet, I think we all thought it was going to be tough, but we [and our teammates at the Ivies] were all back and forth on the phone calling each other,” said freshman Catherine Skoda. “To hear about them winning their races would motivate us and get us excited for our own races. It was just so much support it didn’t seem like anything was missing.”

After three days of intense competition, the Crimson finished in third place with a score of 371.5 points, falling behind only Boston College and the University of New Hampshire, who placed first and second with 592 and 585 points, respectively.

“I think we are definitely happy [with our third place finish],” said sophomore Kate O’Brien. “We set a standard for our team. Winning is certainly a possibility and will be our goal next year. It is a really long meet and really stressful, and we were excited that we pulled out a third place finish.”

While the relay teams seemed to struggle somewhat at the Ivies, never being able to claim a first place finish, the relay teams at ECACs brought in the most points overall for their team, consistently finishing high.

Three Harvard relays even claimed the third place spot in their races.

A Crimson team of freshman Skoda, sophomores Kyle Cutter and Kathleen Huber, and junior Kim Linsenmann took third in the 200-yard freestyle relay, while the team of Linsenmann, O’Brien, sophomore Kara O’Reilly, and junior Kim Ono finished third in the 200-medley relay.

“I think relays are always the most fun part of a meet because you are swimming with your teammates in your race,” Skoda said. “I know that a lot of us had our fastest swims in our relays because you are swimming for your team and it pushes you harder.”

Linsenmann, Huber, Skoda, and Davidson even ended the meet’s final day with a third-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

“All the people on all the relays performed incredibly well every time,” O’Brien said. “They were never under par and always performed above what was expected.”

The Crimson had another strong finish in the 800-free relay, when the team of Skoda, Davidson, O’Reilly, and Huber took fifth.

And coming in sixth in the 400-yard medley was Harvard’s quartet of Skoda, O’Reilly, Huber, and junior Joanna Lee.

Besides the relays, the highest place that a Crimson swimmer or diver managed to claim was third.

Freshman Alison Pipitone, the only Harvard diver in the meet, put forth an strong performance and placed third in the three-meter dive—a feat all the more impressive considering the fact that she had no coach at the meet.

“It was an especially hard challenge for her because she didn’t have her head coach or her assistant coach with her,” O’Brien said. “We did the best we could in making sure she had everything she needed. It was definitely of the most impressive performances of the weekend.”

Pipitone would later finish fourth in the one-meter dive.

Meanwhile, Davidson placed third in the 400-yard IM. She also brought up the Harvard pack in the 200-yard IM, finishing seventh to O’Brien’s fourth and Ono’s sixth.

O’Brien also placed eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke and seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke.

“Having my teammates cheering for me helped me to finish high,” O’Brien said.

Skoda also performed well, placing in the top-eight in three individual events. Skoda had good swims in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke—she took seventh in both—but her best performance came in the 100-yard backstroke, where she finished fourth, followed by Ono in eighth.

The last swimmer to place in the A-final for an event was senior Stephanie Greco, who took sixth in the 1600-yard freestyle and eighth in the 500-yard freestyle.

All other Crimson swimmers placed in the B-finals of their respective events. Linsenmann finished 11th in the 50-yard freestyle, O’Reilly 14th in the 100-yard butterfly, and Huber 16th in the 100-yard freestyle.

But even when swimmers weren’t completely satisfied with their own performances, they never failed to cheer their teammates on.

“[Everyone] made an effort to rally behind everyone else,” O’Brien said. “We were the only team to be up off the benches the whole meet, we never sat down. We were running up and down along side the pool.”

The Harvard women competed every one of the meet’s events but the 200-yard butterfly, in which they had no swimmer qualify in the top-16 and thus advance to the finals.

While it wasn’t a first place finish, this Crimson did well considering its number was only half that of other teams.

“I think it is a good starting off point,” Skoda said. “We don’t have a huge scholarship program and don’t have the big time swimming reputation that these other schools do, and we are looking to improve our place when we go back next year. We want to keep moving up.”

—Staff writer Abigail M. Baird can be reached at ambaird@fas.harvard.edu.