Harvard Women Defeat Brown in Season Opener

HARVARD VS. BROWN

• October 27, 2023
• Blodgett Pool, Cambridge, MA
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results
• Team Scores
  • Harvard 170, Brown 130

The Harvard women kicked off their season on Friday with a win against Ivy League rival Brown. The victory marked the first for head coach Amanda Kulik, who took over the program during the summer. Brown pulled off a number of narrow wins, with five of their seven event victories having less than a half-second margin of victory, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Crimson in the points race.

Brown opened the meet with a win. Jenna Reznicek, Gillian Tu, Hannah Ahn, and Morgan Lukinac combined for a 1:42.95 in the 200 medley relay. Reznicek also swept the backstroke events (55.16, 2:01.60). She won the former by a margin of 0.12, narrowly holding off a charging Molly Hamlin. Tu, a first-year, won the 100 breast (1:03.90) by another slim margin, out-splitting Crimson first-year Stephanie Iannaccone to hit the wall a tenth ahead.

The freshmen duo of Alexandra Bastone and Piper Wood Prince combined to sweep the distance events for Harvard. Bastone led the way in both events, claiming victory in the 1000 free (10:06.79) and 500 free (4:58.37). Her classmate was close behind in both events (10:08.89, 4:58.59).

Anya Mostek was another double-event winner for the Crimson, first claiming victory in the 200 free in 1:50.20 and following it up with a 50.62 in the 100 free. She nearly grabbed a third win in the 50 free, but was touched out by Lukinac at the finish (23.51 to 23.54). Notably, Mostek did not swim the 100 back, where she is the defending Ivy League champ.

Zehra Bilgin took the 200 fly in a 2:00.33, over two seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Sydney Lu of Harvard, and with Brown’s largest margin of victory of the entire meet. Catherine Yu led wire-to-wire in the 200 breast for Brown’s last win of the meet, posting a 2:17.49.

It was all Harvard for the rest of the meet, with Lu claiming the 100 fly (54.46), and Iannaccone posting a dominant win in the 200 IM (2:03.27), nearly four seconds over the 2nd place finisher. Lu, Isabella Alas, Addie Rose Bullock, and Molly Hamlin closed out the meet with a 3:24.88 in the 400 free relay.

The Bears are back in action first, hosting a tri-meet against Dartmouth and Princeton this Saturday, November 4. A week later, the Crimson will host Dartmouth and Cornell on November 11. Alongside naming a conference meet champion, the Ivy League also awards a dual meet trophy to the team with the winningest record, raising the stakes for both teams as they continue their seasons. Last season, Harvard finished 2nd while Brown finished 5th.

Other Highlights:

• A pair of Harvard juniors combined to sweep the diving events. Amy Wotovich claimed 1st in 3-meter (300.68) and Remi Edvalson won on 1-meter (289.20).
• Lily Klinginsmith, a sophomore transfer for D3 Tufts, made her debut for the Bears. She took 3rd in both of her individual events, the 50 free (24.25) and 100 free (51.85). She is a two-time NCAA DIII champ in the 100 free and 100 fly.