W. Swimming Finishes Fourth at Ivies

For women's swimming and diving, the 2001 Ivy Championship meet was highlighted by one thing: outstanding performances by the team's captains and seniors.

"Our success really speaks to the strength of the senior class," captain Angie Peluse said. "We are all really proud of our accomplishments as a group."

All five of the seniors swimming for the Crimson (3-4, 3-4 Ivy) recorded at least one personal best time, and both senior divers reached the finals in one event.

Leading Harvard's charge was captain Pia Chock. Chock was the only Crimson athlete to qualify for the championship finals in three events.

Chock finished 6th in the 100-yard butterfly (56.82, 55.68 prelim), 7th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.15, 1:50.74 prelim), and 3rd in the 200-yard fly in a new team record of 2:01.98.

At the beginning of the season, the record belonged to sophomore Lovisa Gustafsson. Chock broke Gustafsson's record in November, but sophomore Kate Nadeau shattered Chock's record three weeks ago at Harvard-Yale-Princeton weekend.

The record is once again back in Chock's hands.

"I'm so glad I swam a best time," Chock said. "It was great to get the record; it was a great way to end my Harvard swimming career."

Chock also swam on four of the Crimson's five relays. Her 51.22 lead-off split in Saturday night's 400-yard freestyle was .06 of a second off the team record and the third fastest time in Harvard history.

Captain Angie Peluse swam the meet of her life, recording five personal best times on the weekend. Peluse finished 7th in the 100-yard backstroke (57.80, 57.62 prelim), 10th in the 200-yard back (2:04.48) and 17th in the 100-yard butterfly (58.66).

Peluse was one of the ten Harvard athletes at the meet to qualify for a championship final out of the twenty that competed.

"I knew I wasn't going to go out without a fight," Peluse said. "I think I always had it in me. This weekend I just was able to put it together."

Senior freestyle and individual medley specialist Lillian Brown finished off her Harvard career just as spectacularly as Peluse and Chock.

Brown was a consolation finalist in three events. She finished 14th in the 200-yard individual medley (2:07.85, 2:07.29 prelims), 14th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:06.97), and won the consolation final in the 400-yard I.M. in 4:28.99 for the Crimson

Brown swam a personal best in every event she entered and contributed as a member of the 800-yard freestyle relay that finished 3rd in finals.

"I didn't want to have any regrets," Brown said. "I gave it my all and I wanted to make sure I left everything I had in the pool."

Senior standout Kirra Brandon made up for a disappointing 400-yard I.M. in Friday morning's preliminaries with two season-best swims on Saturday. Brandon finished 13th in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:25.42, 2:24.26 prelim) and 8th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:07.98, 2:05.45).

Senior Danielle Backes swam to a personal best time of 17:30.85 in the 1650-yard freestyle to finish in 17th place.

Senior divers Camilla McLean and Captain Ali Shipley each qualified for finals on one board and scored consolation points on the other.

McLean finished 4th on the 3-meter with 442.25 points and 10th on the 1-meter.

Shipley, who just got back on the boards 14 days ago after being out all season with an ankle injury, placed 8th on the 1-meter with 209.60 points. She finished 11th on the three meter.

Unlike the Crimson swimmers, whose collegiate season is now over, the divers move onto the NCAA Regional Zone competition in two weeks where they will have a chance to qualify for the Big Dance.

Other Crimson swimmers who turned in all-star performances include sophomore Jane Humphries in the 200-yard I.M. (8th, 2:06.85, 2:05.41 prelim), junior Janna McDougall in the 100-yard freestyle (8th, 52., 51.29 prelim) and 100-yard backstroke (5th, 57.36, 57.10 prelim), and freshman Katie Wilbur in the 400-yard I.M. (5th, 4:28.14, 4:27.80 prelim).

This season the Ivy League Championships were faster than they have ever been. More individuals from the conference will qualify for the NCAA Championships this season than in several years, a sign of growing depth in the league.

In a conference where the competition has been growing more fierce each season, the Crimson selected to compete elevated its performance to the best of its ability in order to keep up with Ivy rivals Princeton, Brown, and Yale.

It is probable that a different crop of athletes might have yielded more points at the Ivies, giving Harvard a more realistic chance at finishing among the top three teams.

However, the importance of having the complete senior and freshmen classes at the competition (excluding Harvard freshmen diving superstar Brittany Garza, who is recovering from an apendectomy) appears to have weighed heavily on coach Steph Wriede-Morawski's '92 decision.

Although Harvard finished fourth, its worst performance since 1997, it makes sense to focus on what the 2000-2001 Crimson has accomplished.

Harvard rewrote its history book over the course of the season; more than a dozen Crimson athletes moved up on and broke into Harvard's all-time top ten lists. This is indicative of the elevated performances the Crimson had all year and especially at H-Y-P and the Ivies.

It is also a sign of the faster and more talented recruiting classes that assistant coach Katherine Veazey '95 continues to secure.

"Harvard women's swimming and diving has unfinished business," Peluse said. "The Ivy League is getting faster but so are we. We had an amazing year because of the team dynamic we maintained and the attitude we kept. This was a team of leaders."