Women's Swimming and Diving Comes Up Short in Bid for Repeat Ivy Title

Three days. Eight schools. One champion.

Entering the weekend as the reigning title holder, the Harvard women’s swimming and diving team ended its season Saturday at Blodgett Pool, adding on to its undefeated run through conference play with a second place finish at the Ivy League Championships.

The meet came directly after the Crimson (7-1-1, 6-0-1 Ivy) narrowly beat Yale, and tied Princeton in the annual HYP meet. These three contenders jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, from vying for dominance at HYP to battling for the Ancient Eight title.

“Because we’ve had pretty tight meets all season and especially because we tied Princeton, we tried to go in with a calm, relaxed attitude and just roll with that momentum,” co-captain Stephanie Ferrell said.

The three teams fought back and forth for the first place slot over the meet’s first two days. The final day saw possession of first place switch between Harvard and the Tigers nearly every race. But Princeton seized its victory in the 400 freestyle relay, the meet’s final event, where its meet- and pool-record time of 3:18.25 ultimately earned the Tigers the title.

Princeton solidified its hold on the Frank Keefe Trophy with its final victory, finishing with 1423 points for the meet. The Crimson came next with 1401.5 points, while Yale earned third with 1377. Penn finished fourth, with Columbia, Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth filling out the bottom half of the leaderboard.

“It gets hard when you get caught up over three days−it gives you time to think,” said Harvard coach Stephanie Wriede Morawski ’92. “We overthought some of the races, and when that happens you lose a few points here and there. Unfortunately when your score is 1400 points, those points do add up.”

Despite being edged out by the Tigers, the Crimson had its own share of impressive performances. Freshman Geordie Enoch gave the team its first podium-topping finish of the meet, winning the 200 individual medley in 2:00.66. She continued her streak, winning the 400 IM, coming in third in the 200 breaststroke, and swimming on the third-place 400 and 800 freestyle relay teams.

“We are so incredibly proud of our freshmen,” Ferrell said. “It can be really tough showing up at Ivy League Championships not knowing what to expect. Being able to come in and handle that pressure and perform so well speaks to how strong our freshman class is.”

Junior Danielle Lee also came away with a set of medaled performances. She took first in the 100 and 200 backstroke, ninth in the 200 IM, and competed on four of the team’s five relay teams.

Harvard also sent out its seniors with a bang. Ferrell earned second in the 100 breast and finished her career with a time of 2:15.01 in the 200 breast, good for another runner-up spot on the pedestal. Ferrell also took third in the 200 IM.

The other Crimson swimming captain, Kelsey Hojan-Clark, made waves in the distance events. The senior took fourth and ninth in the 1000 and 1650 free, respectively. She also placed 18th in the 400 IM.

On the board, the diving team leapt its way to victory, with several competitors finishing top-eight in both the one-meter and the three-meter.

In the one-meter, Harvard swept places three through seven. Freshman Hannah Allchurch led the team, taking third with 278.15 points. She was followed by sophomore Elina Leiviska, senior Schuyler Moore, freshman Alisha Mah, and freshman Jing Leung.

“Our divers did a phenomenal job,” Morawski said. “[Diving coach Keith Miller ‘89] really had them well prepared to be at their best.”

A similar pattern arose in the three-meter. Leung closed off an impressive freshman season, coming in third. She was followed by Leiviska in fourth, Mah in sixth, and Moore in seventh.

As the season draws to a close and the seniors say their goodbyes, Ferrell is sure that the Crimson will continue to challenge its opponents.

“The team has nothing but great goals going forward, and [our girls are] going to achieve them,” Ferrell said.“They’re going to come back with a vengeance that will be great to watch.”

—Staff writer Isabel DeLaura can be reached at idelaura@college.harvard.edu.