SEASON RECAP: Women's Swimming

After 13 years of chasing the Ivy title, the Harvard women’s swimming and diving team finally reached its goal this season. The Crimson, which last won the championship in 1992, beat out rival Princeton, winners of eight championships during Harvard’s title drought.

“It was amazing,” said freshman Bridget O’Connor of the first-place finish. “I couldn’t have expected anything better. We were all ecstatic.”

Harvard clinched the Ivy title 203-116. After day one of competition, the Crimson was in second place, but with junior Noelle Bassi bringing home three wins, Harvard was able to take six of the last 15 events.

Leading up to the Ivy Championship meet, the Crimson was a perfect 10-0 on the season.

Harvard started out with a dual meet against Dartmouth and Cornell. The Crimson went in strong with several heralded freshmen—O’Connor, Jackie Pangilinan, Lindsay Hart and Samantha Papadakis—and won easily. Harvard crushed the opposition, winning 10-of-16 events with final scores of 190-110 and 176-124.

The Crimson then faced Columbia, whom they devastated 205-92, managing to win 13-of-15 events. It was also Bassi’s first meet as a Harvard swimmer.

“I was really nervous,” Bassi said. “But it was really exciting.”

In her first swim for the Crimson, Bassi set a school record in the 200-yard butterfly. She was only one of three swimmers who was able to register multiple wins, however, with Hart and Pangilinan also finishing first in two events.

Harvard cruised to another easy win over Brown by a score of 208-92, winning 13-of-16 events.

The Crimson next took a long trip to face Kansas and Houston. Kansas proved to be the biggest challenge Harvard had faced thus far, as the Crimson pulled out a tight 194.5-157.5 win. The team was able to destroy Houston by a tally of 287-63.

“We didn’t expect to beat [Kansas] at all,” Pangilinan said. “We didn’t even know we were ahead after the first day. We heard the score...and we just went nuts.”

Bassi was once again able to bring home a pair of wins in the 500-yard freestyle and the 400-yard IM, and she also set a pool record in the 400-yard IM.

The Crimson would then go on to swim in its biggest dual meet of the year against rivals Princeton and Yale. The Tigers had a seven-year unbeaten streak in Ivy competition, but Harvard laid it to rest. The Crimson won the meet, beating Princeton 203-116 and Yale 229-90.

“I think for us to [break Princeton’s record] made it even more incredible,” O’Connor said. “With any sport when you have a rival it’s great to beat them finally.”

This year marked only the fifth time that Harvard has registered a perfect Ivy season.

While the Crimson was competing at Ivies, the other half of its team was at the ECAC Championships, and even with only half the team present, Harvard was still able to take third place.

After the regular season ended, the Crimson sent swimmers to the NCAA championships. Papadakis almost qualified for the one-meter dive event during the NCAA Zone Diving Championships, but was beat out by .65 points. Harvard did send Bassi and Pangilinan, each of whom competed in two events.

“That is one of the things that made me happy,” Pangilinan said, “that I could perform so well against people that were so fast.”

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