W. Swimming Coasts Past Ivy Foes

By PETER D. HENNINGER and CATHY H. TRAN

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERs

The Harvard’s women’s swimming and diving team knocked off two more Ivy opponents this weekend, outpacing Columbia and Penn on Sunday at Blodgett Pool.

The Crimson (4-1 Ivy) smoked the Lions, 214-90, and squeaked by the Quakers, 156-144.

“Our team swam fairly well this weekend, considering that we had had a tough week of training after a long week after the U.S. Open,” co-captain Janna McDougall said. “Penn was well-rested, shaved and ready to go. I’m really proud of my team for sticking with it when we were down.”

After losing a tight dual meet with Brown on Nov. 16 and placing behind Brown and just ahead of Princeton at last weekend’s U.S. Open in East Meadow, N.Y., the Crimson’s early results suggest that the race for the Ivy title is still up for grabs.

Harvard has one more double-dual meet at Yale with Princeton in early February.

“Princeton and Brown are still on top of the league,” McDougall said. “It’s a toss-up. The league is generally getting faster. Penn has a lot of good swimmers but not much depth. We’re definitely up there.”

And it seems that throughout the team, the Crimson has a pretty good understanding of what it will take to win the title.

“Princeton is going to be tough,” junior Anna Fraser said. “At the actual Ivies, it will be a good race between Princeton, Brown and us for the title.”

The Crimson did not dominate the Sunday’s standings as it did against Cornell and Dartmouth, but Harvard showed off its depth by continually placing swimmers and divers at or near the top in each event.

The day began well for the Harvard, as the team of McDougall, Fraser and freshmen Jelena Kristic and Allison Bates took the 200-meter medley by more than a second in a time of 1:46.20.

“The race was great,” Fraser said. “Everyone swam well and it was a really good time for each of us.”