PRINCETON, N.J.--Princeton's new orange and black DeNunzio Pool looks more suitable for holding the Great Pumpkin hunt than the showdown for the women's Ivy League swimming title. But Princeton, the defending Ivy champion, and Harvard had to make due this past Saturday, as both undefeated squads met for Ivy bragging rights.
Last year the squads faced off under similar circumstances and Princeton came away with a narrow four-point win. The satisfaction of revenge for the Crimson will have to wait for at least another year, however, and maybe even longer, as a young, talented Princeton (7-1, 7-0) team posted a 163-137 win over Harvard (4-1, 4-1 Ivy) to maintain an unblemished Ivy League record.
Princeton won eight of the 12 individual races and the two relay races while splitting the diving events to secure the victory. The eight individual victories came from four sophomores and one freshman. Sophomore Paige Scott took two events while classmates Nathalie Wunderlich, Michelle Russell and Liz Nelson each won one event. Freshman Grace Cornelius, appropriately nicknamed by some "Amazing Grace," led the field with first place finishes in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly and the 100-yard freestyle, and she anchored a come-from-behind win in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Harvard's Stacie Duncan blew away the competition in the 500-yard and 1000-yard freestyle events, while Co-Captain Jill Hutchinson and Steph Wriede placed first in the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley events, respectively.
Princeton trailed early on after Hutchinson's win in the 200 free, but the Tigers slowly crept back into the lead. By the second-to-last event, the 200-yard IM, Harvard still had a chance to win the meet if it could finish in the top three spots, but Princeton's Carrington Cole touched out Harvard Co-Captain Nicole Engh for second place, clinching a back-to-back Ivy title for the Tigers.
The final race of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay, was inconsequential to the overall score but was the closest race of the day. Going into the final leg, the Crimson held a lead of over a second, but Cornelius overtook Harvard's Lynn Kelley in the last 25 yards. Cornelius's split of 50.77 was even faster than her time in the individual 100-yard freestyle that she won earlier in the meet.
Tigers, 163-137
in Princeton
200 medley relay
1. Princeton (Russel, Scott, Budney, Nelson), 1:47.70; 2. Harvard, (Alonso, Wriede, Romas, Chertow), 1:48.90; 3. Princeton.
1000 freestyle
1. Duncan (H), 10:05.12; 2. Gibbons (H), 10:17.27; 3. Krahulik (P), 10:26.58.
200 freestyle
1. Hutchison (H), 1:51.29; 2. Schreur (P), 1:52.76; 3. Kelley (H), 1:52.84.
100 backstroke
Read more in Sports
Princeton to Invade Harvard, Hemenway