TEAM OF THE YEAR RUNNER-UP: Pair of Firsts For Crimson in Championships

In a sport that on the surface seems to revolve around the individual, it’s hard to imagine how teamwork could have been essential to the success of the Harvard women’s swimming and diving team this year.

But at the Ivy League Championships, the Crimson showed just how important the team mentality can be in swimming.

While three-time defending champion Princeton relied on the talent of a few superstar swimmers, Harvard used its impressive depth to decisively reclaim the title it last held in 2005.

“There is something very special about this team.” Crimson coach Stephanie Morawski said after Ivies. “They are very positive and work together. They mentor each other and support each other. On every little opportunity they rose up to the challenge. And all those little things together add up and make the difference.”

Though the Tigers won 10 events to Harvard’s six, more Crimson swimmers reached the A finals, making a championship victory nearly inevitable.

“I think that what is really impressive is the way that everybody swam up to their potential and really exceeded our expectations,” junior co-captain Alexandra Clarke said.

The focus on a group effort arose in practice and translated into success in competition.

“Even if someone was struggling, there was always someone to pull them up and not someone else to pull them down,” Morawski said. “And I think that is really important when you look at the strength of your team.”

Harvard rode that cooperative mentality to a phenomenal regular season, highlighted by nine school-record performances at the early-season Georgia Invitational, and six dominant Ivy League wins.

And though the team effort fell short against Princeton in the HYP tri-meet, the swimmers never lost faith in each other.

“The big point that anyone who was watching the meet saw is that we were a team,” Morawski said after the meet. “If they were in a heat with their teammates, they worked with their teammates to touch them out and win. Swimming as fast as we did and staying that close to Princeton without getting the wins—that was the group effort.”

With the Ancient Eight crown on the line, the Crimson’s depth and cooperation came through. Led by its distance swimmers, four of whom placed in the top five in three events—including a 1-2-3 sweep of the 1000-yard freestyle—Harvard took the crown by a 249.5-point margin.

And fittingly, the Crimson capped the meet with two school records in the 400-yard and 800-yard freestyle relays, with the team taking home the title in the 800-yard distance.

“I had an amazing time watching all of my teammates succeed and swim incredibly fast,” sophomore Kate Mills wrote in an e-mail. “Our championship truly was a team effort. We always said that we were a special team, and in the end, we proved that we really were a special group of girls. I think that speaks to the atmosphere of our year.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.