This weekend, the undefeated Harvard women’s swimming and diving team (3-0, 3-0 Ivy) tested its abilities against competitors at multi-day invitationals near and far: the Texas Hall of Fame Invite, the MIT Winter Invitational and the UGA Fall Invitational.
MIT WINTER INVITATIONAL
While most of the Crimson swimmers made the trek to Austin, a smaller group stayed in Cambridge where Harvard took on its crosstown competitors, as well as athletes from Bowdoin, Tufts and Wellesley.
The first day of competition saw two races. Opening with the 800-yard free relay, Harvard finished second with a time of 7 minutes, 40.51 seconds. Later that evening, junior Marlee Ehrlich placed first in the 1650-yard free.
The Crimson continued to slate top-three finishes, with junior Shori Hijikata placing first and third in the 200-yard butterfly and 300-yard IM, respectively. Junior Margaret Ramsey and sophomore Willa Wang took first and third in the 200-yard fly as well.
Harvard finished the meet with a slew of top-five finishes, including taking first, third and fourth in the 500-yard free.
UGA FALL INVITATIONAL
The diving team spent the weekend away from its swimming counterpart, traveling to Athens, Ga.
In the team’s first competition, the 3-meter springboard, freshman Hannah Allchurch led Harvard, placing sixth with a score of 290.95. She was trailed by fellow freshmen Jing Leung and Alisha Mah, who placed 11th and 15th, respectively.
The next day saw Allchurch’s dominance continue in the 1-meter competition. Her 266.05 finish put her in fifth, while sophomore Elina Leiviska placed eighth, and Mah took 15th.
In the Crimson’s final event, Leung took center stage, placing fifth in platform diving, an event she has not competed in yet this year.
TEXAS HALL OF FAME INVITE
Thursday morning, most of the Harvard swimmers took to the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, priming themselves for a weekend filled with NCAA ‘B’ cut times, top-10 finishes and a school record.
The NCAA ‘B’ cut constitutes a swimmer who, if in the top 39 by the end of the season, qualifies for the national tournament. With many Crimson swimmers achieving these times, Harvard coach Stephanie Wriede Morawski ‘92 has high hopes.
“We had some people do some really good things,” Morawski said. “Hopefully we’ll be in a situation where we’ll have multiple people qualify [for Nationals]. That’s our goal—to not only win the Ivy League, but to send as many people to NCAAs as possible.”
Read more in Sports
Football Takes Home Postseason AwardsRecommended Articles
-
Harvard Continues Winning Ways
-
Crimson Swims to Season-Opening Sweep
-
Dual Win Keeps Harvard Men’s Swimming Unbeaten
-
League Title Bid Falls Just ShortThe Harvard women’s swimming and diving team split up this weekend, with roughly half the squad taking to the pool ...
-
Ivy Foes Cornell, Dartmouth No Match for Crimson at Home
-
Harvard Men's Swimming and Diving Wins 12th Straight Dual Meet in Defeat of Columbia