SPORTS BRIEF: W. Swimming Second after First Day of Ivy Championships

Harvard managed to win half of yesterday’s events on the first day of competition in the Women’s Swimming and Diving Ivy League Championship which will continue through tomorrow.

Only six events were offered on the first day of competition, with the Crimson competing in all six. The preliminaries were held in the morning followed by the finals in the afternoon and evening.

Harvard ended its first day strong with a win in three events and a second place finish overall with 437 points. Princeton ended the night in first with 454.5 points and Yale in third with 290 points for the day.

Junior Noelle Bassi won the 500 yard freestyle, while sophomores Emily Wilson, Laurin Weisenthal, and Kelly Blondin finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively, in the same event.

Stellar freshman diver Samantha Papadakis finished first in the 1 meter dive event, scoring ten points higher than the second place finisher. Sophomore Annika Giesbrecht also had a good day, finishing eighth in the 1 meter dive. The divers will also compete in the 3 meter dive event today and tomorrow.

The other big winner of the night was senior Molly Ward, who led a one-two finish in the 50 freestyle followed by freshman Amanda Slaight.

And while freshman Meaghan Colling didn’t have a first place finish, she was able to post a season’s best in the 200 yard IM with a time of 2:04.66, earning her third place. This finish is especially impressive considering that this event is not a common event for Colling to be swimming.

Freshmen Jackie Pangilinan also swam in the 200 yard IM, an uncommon event for her as well, and finished in fourth. Senior Emily Stapleton rounded out the heat finishing in eighth place.

While the Crimson was not able to win either of the two relays that it competed in, it was still able to post a high finish in one of the two events. In the 200 yard free relay, the first event of the night, Harvard’s team of Ward, Slaight, Colling, and junior Erin Mulkey finished second to the Tigers.

The Crimson had to end the night on a bad note, however, as in the 400 yard medley relay the Harvard team of Ward, Pangilinan, freshman Lindsay Hart, and senior Alli Bates was disqualified.

The Crimson will go on to compete in a further 15 events today and tomorrow to finish out the Women’s Ivy Championships.

—ABIGAIL M. BAIRD