Women's Swimming Tames Bulldogs, Not Tigers

New records and NCAA qualifying times might be enough to down Yale, but do not always get it done versus Princeton.

Led by record-breaking performances from junior Lindsay Hart and freshman Alexandra Clarke, the Harvard women’s swimming and diving team defeated Yale, 172-147, but fell to Princeton, 174-145, at this weekend’s annual double dual meet in Princeton, N.J.

“You could tell everyone was putting everything they had into every race,” Hart said. “It’s great to have those times without resting for the meet, and I can only imagine we’re going to do great in two weeks [at Ivy League Championships].”

The Ivy triumvirate entered the competition with undefeated league records but now only Princeton (7-1, 4-0 Ivy) is left with a zero in the loss column. Harvard (7-2, 6-1) currently sits behind the Tigers in the league standings, with Yale (8-2, 5-2) trailing in third place.

After day one of the two-day event, Princeton, the defending Ivy League champions, led Harvard, 94-75, while the Crimson had amassed a sizeable 95-74 lead over the Bulldogs.

Yale won the opening 200-yard medley relay, as Harvard finished third. The Crimson rebounded to turn in strong performances in the individual events that followed.

Clarke broke her own school record with a time of 9:53.06 in the 1,000 freestyle, lowering the previous mark of 9:53.82 that she set at the Georgia Invitational in December, but finished second in the event to Princeton’s own stellar freshman, Alicia Aemisegger, who touched the wall in 9:47.14.

Clarke and senior Laurin Weisenthal grabbed points for the Crimson with third and fourth-places finishes, respectively, in the 200-yard freestyle. Junior Amanda Slaight wrapped up the day’s freestyle events with a fourth-place swim in the 50.

In the 200-yard butterfly, senior co-captain Noelle Bassi took second to Aemisegger but made the NCAA “B” cut with her time of 2:01.56.

Junior Jaclyn Pangilinan won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:03.69, missing this cut by just .14 seconds.

The next day. Hart and Clarke went on to join Bassi in provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship, as Hart hit the mark in the 200 backstroke and Clarke in the 500 free.

Day two of competition brought even more spectacular individual performances from the Crimson but the Tigers had the talent to continue to build their lead.

Hart opened the record books early in the day with a blazing time of 1:59.59 in the 200-yard backstroke, eclipsing her previous school record of 1:59.84 from the Ivy League championships last season.

Also of note is Hart’s win over Yale senior Moira McCloskey, who won the 200 back at Ivies last season.

Hart later added a third-place finish in the 200 IM to go with a win in the 200 back and day one’s second-place finish in the 100 back.

“I had some great competition in that race,” Hart said. “Moira and I have been competing for three years and it has always been back and forth between us. I felt good and took it out that last lap.”

Clarke and Weisenthal followed their strong swims in day one with a 1-2 finish in the 500-yard freestyle.

Junior Bridget O’Connor gave the Crimson another first place with a 55.89-second win in the 100-yard butterfly.

In the dive portion of the meet, junior Samantha Papadakis, fresh off last weekend’s record-setting performance at Blodgett, captured the one-meter competition with 291 points and took second in the three-meter dive with 327.05 points.

The event was Harvard’s last dual meet of the season, as the team will begin to gear up for postseason.

First up is the Ivy League Championships in Princeton on Feb. 15-17, which will offer the Crimson a second look at the Tigers.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Compton can be reached at compton@fas.harvard.edu.