Women's Swimming and Diving Sinks Lions, Goes West

SWIMMING

No cat likes to swim—not even a big cat. Just ask the Columbia Lions.

On Tuesday, the Harvard women’s swimming team hosted Columbia (1-4, 0-4 Ivy) at Blodgett Pool. And for the 31st time in the last 32 meets against the Lions, the Crimson (3-0, 3-0 Ivy) emerged victorious, this time by a score of 173-122.

Senior Willa Wang, freshman Mikaela Dahlke, and sophomore Brittany Usinger each won two events. But dominance came across the board, as Harvard finished one-two-three in three races.

The sweeps came in the longer-distance freestyle events. Wang claimed the 1650 freestyle and the 500 freestyle in 17:03.01 and 5:02.26, respectively. Meanwhile Dahlke topped the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:51.94.

Dahlke also won the 100 freestyle in 51.60. But Columbia swimmer Mary Ashby managed second and thus prevented a sweep in this event as well.

In other races, Usinger dominated the 100 fly and the 100 butterfly. She won the former event in 56.20. And in the latter event, she posted a time of 2:03.46, three seconds faster than her closest competition.

The only other Harvard swimmer to claim first was junior Kristina Li, who led the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.55. Racing for the Lions, Julia Samson grabbed second in 57.73.

Combined with the diving competition—which took place on November 18—the Crimson claimed 10 events and maintained an undefeated record in the Ivy League.

Columbia gained some measure of redemption by taking first through fourth in the 400 IM and first through third in the 200 freestyle relay. But those performances did not prevent the Lions from slipping to 0-4 against the Ancient Eight.

DIVING

Some people start a new year with a splash. Junior Alisha Mah started 2017 without one.

In two days of diving competitions out West, Mah won two events. On Tuesday, she competed against Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah and topped the one-meter with a score of 267.90. On Wednesday, she battled Denver in Denver, Colo. and claimed first again with a score of 267.30.

As a team, Harvard posted a stronger showing against Pioneers. In this case, sophomore Katie Russ took home the one-meter with a tally of 258.90. Russ also performed well in the three-meter, finishing in third. And freshman Megan Galbreath nabbed second to round out the sweep.

Against the Utes, Galbreath was the only Crimson competitor to crack the top four in the three-meter. She ended with 249.00, good for second.

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sam.danello@thecrimson.com.