2023 Ivy League Women’s Championships: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

2023 Women’s Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championships

• Wednesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 18, 2022
• Prelims 11:00 AM / Finals 6:00 PM
• DeNunzio Pool, Princeton, New Jersey
• Defending Champions: Harvard University
• Live Results
• Live Video (ESPN+ paid)
• Championship Central
• Fan Guide

THURSDAY MORNING HEAT SHEETS

Wednesday night’s relays produced one Ivy Championships and two pool records, indicating we are in for a fast championship meet this year. Princeton won both events and leads the field with 128 points. Harvard sits 20 points back in second place, while Brown and Yale are tied for third (106).

Day 2 begins the individual events, with heats of the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, and 1-meter diving.

In the 500 free, Penn senior Anna Kalandadze comes in as the top seed with 4:42.45. Teammate Catherine Buroker is seeded sixth (4:50.03). Columbia’s Aziza Ganihanova (4:47.73) and Olivia Jubin (4:48.88) come in with the second and fourth times in the league, while Yale freshman Lilly Derivaux is third with 4:48.69. Meet record-holder Ellie Marquardt of Princeton is 16th, having swum 4:53.93 this season.

Harvard freshman Anya Mostek tops the field of qualifiers in the 200 IM with 1:59.79. Princeton comes in with the next two fastest seeds: freshman Eliza Brown (2:00.34) and Margaux McDonald (2:00.62).

Brown holds the top seed in the 50 free with Samantha Scott (22.60). Columbia freshman Emily MacDonald (22.66) and Princeton freshman Sabrina Johnston (22.69) are seeded second and third. 2020 champion Nikki Venema of Princeton is seeded 12th (22.99).

Women’s 500 Freestyle – Prelims

• Ivy League Record: 4:34.06 – Lia Thomas, Penn (2021)
• Ivy Championships Record: 4:36.37 – Ellie Marquardt, Princeton (2020)
• Princeton Pool Record: 4:40.26 – Miki Dahlke, Harvard (2019)
• NCAA A Standard: 4:35.76
• 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 4:43.08

Top 8:

1. Anna Kalandadze, Penn – 4:41.77
2. Catherine Buroker, Penn – 4:44.49
3. Anna Moehn, Penn – 4:47.07
4. Olivia Jubin, Columbia – 4:48.24
5. Aziza Ganihanova, Columbia – 4:48.39
6. Emily Appleton, Princeton – 4:48.76
7. Lilly Derivaux, Yale – 4:49.03
8. Ellie Marquardt, Princeton – 4:49.43

Dartmouth freshman Sydney Rawie blazed out to a fast start and led heat 1 through the first half of the race. Brown’s Emily Clements, seeded with no time and swimming in lane 8, was more or less even with Rawie, but took over the lead at the halfway and descended over the next 250 yards to win heat 1 in 4:55.26. Cornell’s Allie Danko (5:00.45) led the rest of the field and finished third, nearly chasing down Rawie (4:59.70).

Harvard freshman Sydney Lu came in seeded with 5:03 but dominated the field in heat 2 through the first half. Columbia freshman Hutton Saunders crept up on Lu over the second half, but was unable to catch her at the end. Lu won heat 2 with 4:53.97. Saunders went 4:55.18 for second. Dartmouth’s Christina Cianciolo was third.

Penn’s Catherine Buroker was the wire-to-wire winner of heat 3, the first circle-seeded heat. She finished with 4:44.49, followed by Yale’s Lilly Derivaux (4:49.03) and Penn’s Amelia Girotto (4:51.88).

Aziza Ganihanova from Columbia came back on the second half of the race to pass heat leader Ellie Marquardt of Princeton. Marquardt had been swimming tandem with teammate Caroline Lewitt, but the latter fell off pace on the second half. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pool, Emily Appleton of Princeton powered through the second half and just touched out Marquardt for second place at the final touch.

Anna Kalandadze of Penn dominated the final heat, winning in 4:41.77. Teammate Anna Moehn passed Columbia’s Olivia Jubin at the end to take second in 4:47.07. Jubin was third in 4:48.24. Megan Reich of Princeton was fourth with 4:50.85.

Women’s 200 Individual Medley – Prelims

• Ivy League Record: 1:55.09 – Katie Meili, Columbia (2013)
• Ivy Championships Record: 1:55.09 – Katie Meili, Columbia (2013)
• Princeton Pool Record: 1:55.09 – Katie Meili, Columbia (2013)
• NCAA A Standard: 1:53.66
• 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 1:56.85

Top 8:

1. Margaux McDonald, Princeton – 1:59.26
2. Eliza Brown, Princeton – 1:59.59
3. Samantha Shelton, Harvard – 1:59.87
4. Meg Wheeler, Princeton – 2:00.82
5. Anya Mostek, Harvard – 2:00.82
6. Karen Liu, Columbia – 2:00.86
7. Alex Massey, Yale – 2:01.03
8. Anna Podurgiel, Brown – 2:01.15

Heat 1 of the 200 IM featured a battle between Vivian Weng of Yale and Anna Boeckman of Penn; Weng got the win, 2:01.82 to 2:02.38. Weng had been entered with no time, while Boeckman dropped 5 seconds from her seed time.

Harvard’s Samantha Shelton took 4.9 seconds off her entry time to win heat 2 decisively, going 1:59.87 to beat teammate Maggie Buckley (2:02.99) by nearly three seconds. Shelton won this event, as well as the 200 free and 200 back, as a freshman in 2019. She was fourth in 2020 but came back to win the event for a second time in 2022.

Heat 3 went to Margaux McDonald of Princeton, who won the B final in this event last year. She took over the lead on the backstroke after trailing Yale’s Ava Franks on the butterfly leg. Meg Wheeler of Princeton outsplit Franks on the breaststroke and overtook her on the final 50 yards. McDonald took the heat in 1:59.26, followed by Wheeler (2:00.73) and Franks (2:01.72).

Yale’s Alex Massey got out to the early lead in heat 4 with a strong butterfly leg. She increased her lead to half a body after the backstroke, but Princeton’s Eliza Brown and Columbia’s Karen Liu threw down very strong breaststroke legs (34.28 and 35.69, respectively) to overtake Massey. Brown went 1:59.59 to Liu’s 2:00.86 and Massey’s 2:01.03.

The final heat went to top seed Anya Mostek of Harvard. Brown’s Anna Podurgiel led after the butterfly, but Mostek moved to the front on the backstroke and held on to the lead through to the finish. Mostek won with 2:00.82, just edging Podurgiel (2:01.15). Princeton’s Liza Whitmire powered home to nab third with 2:01.69. Whitmire was third in this event a year ago.

Women’s 50 Freestyle – Prelims

• Ivy League Record: 21.83 – Bella Hindley (2019)
• Ivy Championships Record: 21.83 – Bella Hindley (2019)
• Princeton Pool Record: 21.83 – Bella Hindley (2019)
• NCAA A Standard: 21.66
• 2022 NCAA Invite Time: 22.16

Top 8:

1. Emily Macdonald, Columbia – 22.49
2. TIE Amelia Liu, Princeton / Samantha Scott, Brown – 22.51
3. –
4. Nikki Venema, Princeton – 22.55
5. Elzbieta Noble, Princeton – 22.62
6. Sabrina Johnston, Princeton – 22.64
7. Isabelle Arevalo, Columbia – 22.73
8. Heidi Smithwick, Princeton – 22.79

Quinn Rinkus kicked off the heats of 50 freestyle with a 24.42-to-24.45 win over Dartmouth’s Rachel Zhang. Anna Gruvberger of Cornell took heat 2 in 23.31, taking three-tenths off her seed time. Lane Murray of Dartmouth (23.59) edged Joelle Ohr (23.64) for second place in the heat.

Swimming in lane 6, Amelia Liu of Princeton touched out teammate Sabrina Johnston for the win in the first circle-seeded heat, stopping the clock at 22.51 and knocking a full half-second off her entry time. Johnston was just behind in 22.64. Mandy Brenner of Harvard touched third in 22.96.

Columbia freshman and number 2 seed overall, Emily MacDonald won the next heat in 22.49, a .15 improvement from her entry time. Princeton’s Nikki Venema clocked in at 22.55 for second place, followed by Columbia’s Isabelle Arevalo (22.73) and Princeton teammate Heidi Smithwick (22.79).

Top-seeded Samantha Scott of Brown won the final heat in 22.51. Elzbieta Noble from Princeton took second from lane 7, touching in 22.62 and beating her seed time by .67. Cornell’s Melissa Parker was third in 22.88.

Women’s 1-Meter Diving – Prelims

• Ivy League Record: 314.20 – Mikaela Thompson, Harvard (2016)
• Ivy Championships Record: 314.20 – Mikaela Thompson, Harvard (2016)
• Princeton Pool Record: 314.20 – Mikaela Thompson, Harvard (2016)
• NCAA A Standard: 265.00

Top 8:

1. Charlotte Martinkus, Princeton – 291.15
2. Remi Edvalson, Harvard – 277.40
3. Paige Lai, Yale – 267.15
4. Nina Janmyr, Harvard – 267.05
5. Elise Jendritz, Cornell – 265.15
6. Amy Wotovich, Harvard – 254.80
7. Elizabeth Miclau, Harvard – 251.90
8. Genevieve Thibodeau, Yale – 251.70

Harvard and Yale entered six divers each in the 1-meter event, while Brown, Cornell, Penn, and Princeton had three and Dartmouth, two. Last year, Harvard dominated both diving events with 9 athletes scoring a total of 171.5 team points on the 1-meter board and 193 on the 3-meter.

This year, Harvard was less aggressive but the Crimson nonetheless earned strong results from their divers, picking up four spots in the top 8 (Remi Edvalson, Nina Janmyr, Amy Wotovich, and Elizabeth Miclau) and placing another two (Katie Laverty and Evelyn Geier, both A finalists last year) in the consolation final. Yale wound up with two in the A final (Gloria Lai and Genevieve Thibodeau) and one (Lily Horenkamp) in the consols.

Princeton took the top spot in the morning with Charlotte Martinkus, who scored 291.15 points. Her biggest dive was a 2.5 somersault tuck in round 4 that scored 63 points and put her out of reach for the next two rounds. Princeton’s other two divers, Francesca Noviello and Madelyn Seltzer, both made the consolation final.

Cornell’s Elise Jendritz had a huge dive in round 2, finishing the round in second place, and continued to perform well throughout all six dives to finish in the fifth spot.