Without Morawski, Crimson Still Wins Big

The Harvard women’s swimming and diving team dominated in separate events against Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth this weekend without its head coach, Stephanie Wriede Morawski, who gave birth to a baby girl on Friday.

Assistant coach Rebecca Mitchell assumed the coaching reins and adapted quite nicely, according to junior freestyler Bridget O’Connor.

“She gave great speeches,” said O’Connor, who finished second yesterday to freshman teammate Sophie Morgan in the 200-yard freestyle against Cornell. “She was very motivational.”

Morawski will return to the team for Friday’s dual meet against Columbia after a two-week break.

HARVARD 208, CORNELL 89 HARVARD 187.5, DARTMOUTH 109.5

Despite failing to win as many events as it did against Brown, Harvard still took No. 1 in 11 of its 15 events, swimming the final sixteenth event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, as an exhibition.

Dartmouth was able to take home two wins for the meet, with Cornell picking up the last three.

Overall on Sunday, the Crimson beat the Big Red 208-89 and the Big Green by a smaller but still considerable margin of 187.5-109.5.

Once again, as they did against Brown, junior Samantha Papadakis and Morgan won their two individual events.

Papadakis once again took first in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. In the 1-meter, she led a one-two-three finish with junior Kelcey Moore and freshman Caitlin High taking No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

Morgan once again dominated in the freestyle events, winning both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races. In the 200, she was followed by O’Connor, who came in No. 2. Junior Meaghan Colling finished No. 2 in the 100.

The freshmen once again had quite a showing, taking home four individual events.

Freshman Margaret Wollner led a one-two finish with Chang in the 200-yard butterfly. Freshman Alexandra Clarke won the 100-yard butterfly.

The first relay of the night, the 200-yard medley relay, also produced double winners. The Harvard “B” team, composed of freshmen Natalia Festa and Tiffany Bui as well as junior Jaclyn Pangilinan and O’Connor, took first in the event. Harvard’s “A” team finished in second.

Pangilinan won her second event, leading a one-two finish with Colling in the 100-yard backstroke.

HARVARD 190, BROWN 107

Three competitors took home as many as two individual wins as Harvard (4-0-0, 4-0-0 Ivy) won 14 out of its 15 events on Friday.

The Crimson faced Brown (1-1-0, 1-1-0 Ivy) in Providence, cinching its second win of the season, 190-107. Papadakis won both diving events in her bid to return to the NCAA Tournament in 2006-07, taking the 1-meter and 3-meter titles.

“We’re all confident she’ll make [the tournament] again,” O’Connor said.

Clarke and Morgan joined her as double champions.

Harvard’s other double winners again came out of the 200-yard medley winning team of Hart, Pangilinan, O’Connor, and Slaight.

Hart went on to win the 100-yard backstroke and O’Connor touched the wall first in the 100-yard butterfly. Both were the only top-two finishers in their events.

Pangilinan led a one-two finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, one of her signature events, with Chang touching the wall second.

—Staff writer Abigail M. Baird can be reached at ambaird@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Alex McPhillips contributed to the reporting of this article.