2022 Ivy League Women’s Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2022 Women’s Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championships

• Wednesday, February 16 – Saturday, February 19, 2022
• Prelims 11:00 AM / Finals 6:00 PM
• Blodgett Pool, Harvard University, Boston MA
• Defending Champions: Princeton University (2020 results)
• Live Results
• Streaming: ESPN+ Day 1 finals
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets

The Ivy League is holding a championship meet for the first time in two years, after having canceled fall and winter sports for the 2020-2021 season due to the global pandemic. The Ancient Eight will begin their meet with timed finals of the 200 medley and 800 free relays tonight in Cambridge.

The 2021-22 Ivy League women’s season has been featured heavily in the news this year, thanks in no small part to the exploits of Penn senior Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who broke league records in the 200 free and 500 free in December. She is seeded first in the 200 free, 500 free, and 1650 free this weekend, although her inclusion in the meet was uncertain until about a week ago when the Ivy League announced that USA Swimming’s recent rule changes regarding transgender swimmers would not impact her eligibility.

Women’s 200 Medley Relay

• Ivy League Record: 1:37.30 – Yale (2018)
• Ivy Championships Record: 1:37.30 – Yale (2018)
• NCAA A Standard: 1:36.40
• NCAA B Standard: 1:37.05

Podium:

1. Princeton – 1:38.66
2. Yale – 1:38.91
3. Harvard – 1:39.14
4. Brown – 1:40.22
5. Penn – 1:40.33
6. Columbia – 1:42.05
7. Cornell – 1:43.17
8. Dartmouth – 1:44.54

In a thrilling start to the meet, Princeton held off a charging Yale to earn its first 200 medley relay win since 2014.

Brown got the early lead with a 24.70 backstroke split from Jenna Reznicek. Princeton’s Alexa Pappas was next in 24.95m followed by Yale’s Lindsey Wagner (25.12) and Harvard’s Felicia Pasadyn (25.22).

Yale’s Marykate Buckley took over the lead on the breaststroke leg, splitting 27.71. Harvard’s Aleksandra Denisenko also split 27.7 to pull the Crimson into second place at the breast-to-fly handoff.

Princeton’s Nikki Venema blasted a 23.04 butterfly leg to move the Tigers into the lead, with Harvard just behind, thanks to Abigail Carr’s 23.71 fly split. Yale’s Olivia Pilkinton (24.19) kept the Bulldogs in play, and it all came down to the anchor leg.

Princeton’s Christina Bradley held onto the lead she inherited from Venema, splitting 22.41 over the final 50 yards. She successfully held off Iszac Henig, Yale’s star sprinter, who came home in a career-best 21.89 for the fastest anchor in the field by half a second. Henig passed Harvard’s Mandy Brenner (22.46) but was unable to catch Bradley.

Women’s 800 Freestyle Relay

• Ivy League Record:
• Ivy Championships Record: 6:59.92 Harvard (2020)
• NCAA A Standard: 7:00.86
• NCAA B Standard: 7:05.88

Podium:

1. Harvard – 7:06.66
2. Yale – 7:08.33
3. Penn – 7:09.91
4. Princeton – 7:16.00
5. Columbia – 7:16.55
6. Dartmouth – 7:20.86
7. Brown – 7:21.75
8. Cornell – 7:27.74

Harvard won their fourth consecutive 800 free relay with 7:06.66, holding off Yale and Penn down the stretch. All three teams, swimming in the middle lanes of the pool, traded leads throughout the race. Yale’s Henig, fresh off his 21.89 anchor on the medley relay, led off the Bulldogs’ effort in 1:44.65. He and Penn’s Thomas (1:44.50) traded stroke for stroke and handed off to Alexandra Massey and Margot Kaczorowski essentially at the same time.

Harvard, meanwhile, began with Pasadyn, another swimmer who had just competed a half-hour earlier in the medley relay. She went 1:45.31 before handing off to Samantha Shelton (1:46.16). Addie Rose Bullock swam third (1:49.15) and handed off to Molly Hamlin (1:46.04) for a combined effort of 7:06.66.

Team Scores After Day 1

1. Harvard – 118
2. Princeton – 116
3. Yale – 112
4. Penn – 104
5. Brown / Columbia 98
6. —
7. Dartmouth – 92
8. Cornell – 90