Women’s Swim and Dive Has a Roaring Start to the Season in Opening Meet Against Brown

This Halloween, the Harvard women’s swim and dive team (1-0, 1-0 Ivy) costumed up to face Brown (0-1, 0-1 Ivy) in the team’s opening meet. The Crimson had a powerful start to the season, beating the Bears 172-71.

The season-opening meet was also the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Meet, and the team raised money to support cancer research while fans pinned pink ribbons to their shirts.

Swim and Dive Head Coach Amanda Kulik said her athletes found similarities in their drive to fight cancer and their grit to win races.

“It’s really important, the lessons that we learn here in the pool and on the boards, that fight and that camaraderie,” Kulik said. “Cancer sucks, and you can draw on people around you to help you go through something hard and challenging.”

After its perfect regular season record last year, Harvard had high expectations for its first league meet. The team did not disappoint.

Once the Crimson took off its Halloween costumes and donned its cap and goggles, it was unstoppable in the pool. The highlight event was the 400-yard freestyle relay to cap off the meet, where Harvard swimmers senior Sydney Lu, senior Anya Mostek, junior Alexandra Bastone, and sophomore Kiley Wilhelm narrowly beat the Bears by 0.12 seconds. Every swimmer and fan was cheering as the anchors raced to the finish line.

The connection and energy among the athletes was the most important part of the team’s success, junior swimmer Stephanie Iannaccone said.

“Our main focus is to keep the energy up and keep it light and fun,” Iannaccone said. “We do that a lot in practice, so if we practice it, we should also be doing it at a meet.”

Of the 13 events the athletes competed in, Harvard took the top spot — or more — in 11. Bastone won the 1,000-yard freestyle by nearly 20 seconds, completing the 40 laps in 10:09.54. Mostek placed first in every event she competed in, including her two individual events — 200-yard backstroke and 50-yard freestyle. This dominance in the lanes only continued on the diving board.

The Crimson took the top three spots in three-meter diving and the top two spots in one-meter diving. Sophomore Ennika Carlson was the highest scorer in both diving events.

Diving Coach Tracy Bird said she was proud of the divers, and this meet helped her see what they needed to work on in the rest of the season.

“We did some amazing things and had some great dives, and some dives that the finishes weren’t as strong as we would like,” Bird said. “Down the road, we’re going to put together phenomenal dives.”

The Crimson has high hopes for the rest of their season, but junior swimmer Isabella Alas said the team has to keep the same fighting mentality in order to keep winning, no matter who their opponents are.

“Each meet, we find new places to grow and how we can push each other,” Alas said. “I think we’ll just attack every meet with the same drive and fierceness.”

The team also emphasized that its spirited culture is also a winning culture. Senior diver Tabitha Chen-Fiske, who dressed up as a cowgirl with pink heart-shaped sunglasses, said wearing costumes at the season opener was a strong start to building team connection.

“It really embodies our team culture of embracing the goofy and weird side of us,” Chen-Fiske said. “It really helps people come together, find a costume, and do something silly.”