Women’s Swimming and Diving Triumphant at 2022 Ivy League Championships

After a dominant performance on Saturday night at Blodgett Pool, Harvard Women’s Swimming and Diving capped off a victorious season with a win at the 2022 Ivy League Championships.

After leading the points total for all four days of the competition, Harvard finished the meet atop the points board to reclaim the Frank Keefe trophy. This achievement is the Crimson’s 15th title in program history and eighth title under Stephanie Wriede Morawski '92, The Costin Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's Swimming & Diving.

After finishing the home and away season with back-to-back losses against rivals Yale and Princeton, the Crimson bounced back with a powerful performance on a bigger stage The team finished with 1,503.5 points, beating second-place Yale (1,258), third-place Penn (1,256), as well as the five other Ivy schools.

Day 1 saw Harvard capture the 800 free relay, the night’s second and final event.. Harvard's relay team of senior Felicia Pasadyn, junior Samantha Shelton, sophomore Addie Rose Bullock, and first-year Molly Hamlin took the 800 free relay with a time of 7:06.66, marking the Crimson's fastest time in the event this season.

On Day 2, Samantha Shelton kept up momentum and won the 200 IM in 1:58.03, edging out teammate Pasadyn (1:58.25) for her second career title in that event. The Crimson then swept the top four spots in 1-meter diving, led by first-year standout Katie Laverty, who posted an impressive score of 288.15.

Day 3 saw Felicia Pasadyn bounce back from her second place finish on Thursday with a win in the 400 IM, this time beating fellow senior Mikki Thompson for an NCAA B cut time of 4:10.45. First-year Aleksandra Denisenko put her first mark on the competition, winning the 100-yard breaststroke with another NCAA B cut time of 1:00.96.

Harvard stormed home on the final day of the competition, with four event wins to cap off a successful championship. Sophomore star Elizabeth Miclau won the 3-meter diving event, first-year Abby Carr claimed the 200-meter butterfly, while Pasadyn and Denisenko both won on back-to-back days in the 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke, respectively.

Senior Georgina Milne won the Ron Keenhold Career High Point Diver Award for cumulative points over four years, while Katie Laverty captured the Rick Gilbert Award as the High Point Diver of the meet. Eight Crimson student-athletes combined for NCAA B cut times in 14 events over the course of the four days.

After finishing the season 6-2, it took a comprehensive team effort across multiple disciplines to rise atop the Ivy League in 2022. Harvard won a total of nine individual events, four of which were won by first-year athletes - a testament to the depth of the team and an exciting sign for the future of the program.

Harvard will look to send representatives to the NCAA Zone Diving Championships (Mar. 7-9) and NCAA Championships (Mar. 17-19) in Atlanta, Georgia.

—Staff writer Brahm Erdmann can be reached at brahm.erdmann@thecrimson.com.