Li is Only Crimson Swimmer at Women's NCAA's

While the rest of her team’s season concluded with a fifth-place finish at the ECAC Championships, junior Sara Li’s season was not quite over. This past weekend, the co-captain was the lone member of the Harvard women’s swimming and diving team to compete at the 2013 NCAA Championships.

“It was an amazing experience,” Li said. “I’m really glad I got to go there for my first time as a junior and really see the level of competition on the national level.”

The junior qualified for and competed in three events over the course of the weekend. First up was Thursday’s 50-meter freestyle. Li clocked in at a time of 22.75 to finish in 37th place. The next day, the junior competed in the 200 free, and her time of 1:46.98 was good for a 34th-place finish. On the final day of competition, Li’s time of 49.50 in the 100 free gave her 38th place.

“Sara was focused on her race plan and enjoyed every moment of being at this prestigious meet,” said head coach Stephanie Wriede Morawski in a press release. “She finished in the middle of the pack in all three races and knows what to expect in the future. More importantly, Sara wants to use the valuable experiences gained to inspire her teammates in hopes of Harvard qualifying more student-athletes for next year’s NCAA championships.”

In her first time competing at the national championship meet, Li was able to test herself against the nation’s perennial powerhouses. The University of Georgia beat-out two-time defending champion California for the national title, with Tennessee rounding out the top three.

Sophomore Courtney Otto also qualified for the NCAA Championships in three events—the 200 butterfly, 200 IM, and 400 IM. However, the sophomore was forced to decline the invitation to this year’s championship due to injury. Otto competed in last year’s NCAA Championships alongside then-senior Meghan Leddy, just barely missing the finals in the 200 fly. This season, with Otto sidelined, Li was the lone member of the Crimson contingent.

“We really are on the national level,” Li said. “I was the only one this year from our team, but I know that a lot of other girls on our team are also capable of competing at NCAA’s and doing really well. It’s exciting to know that we’re right there with them.”

Li qualified for the national championships after setting school records in all three of her events over the course of the ECAC and Ivy League Championships. Li set a program record time of 48.67 in the 100 free as the leadoff leg in the Crimson’s relay team at the ECAC Championships. Her time in the 100 free at that championship broke a 32-year-old Blodgett Pool record. She also bested a school record in the 50 free en route to a third-place finish with a time of 22.46 at the Ivy League Championships. Her time of 1:45.88 in the 200 free at the ECAC Championships set another program record.

Li picked up Ivy titles in the 200 free and the 200 backstroke, and also garnered a second-place finish in 100 free and a third-place showing in the 100 backstroke. She helped Harvard to a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay at Ivies, as well as a third-place finish in the 400 medley and a second-place finish in the 800 freestyle relay.

“I didn’t even know I was going to go [to NCAA’s] until after conferences,” Li said. “I really wasn’t focused on it; I didn’t have it in my plan for the whole year. I was just really happy to be there and experience everything. Hopefully, if I make it back next year, I will be able to have much more focus. I will have more experience.”

In total, seven Ivy League swimmers competed in this weekend’s national championship. Columbia, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale each boasted qualifiers for the NCAA meet. Three swimmers—Katie Meili of the Lions, the Bulldog’s Alex Forrester, and Lisa Boyce of the Tigers—earned All-American accolades.

“We swim against the Ivy League, and it’s pretty fast, but then you get to the big stage with all the big state schools,” Li said. “They take the competition to a whole new level. It’s pretty inspiring to see.”

—Staff writer Brenna R. Nelsen can be reached at brennanelsen@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @CrimsonBRN.