Princeton women’s swimming and diving team welcomed the Penn Quakers and Cornell Big Red for a tri-meet at DeNunzio Pool on Friday. Having lost to Cornell in last year’s matchup in Ithaca and watched a vastly improved Penn squad upset Columbia in their recent dual meet, the Tigers were anticipating a tough battle. Whether it was home-pool advantage, strong diving, or just an overall deep roster, the Tigers came out on top of both contests, beating Cornell 167-133 and Penn 183-117. Cornell topped the Quakers 168-132.
Princeton’s Lindsay Temple, Olivia Chan, Elsa Welshofer, and Nikki Larson started things off on the right foot with a 3:47.68 victory in the 400 medley relay.
Cornell struck back with some strong swims in the 1000 free, led by Currie Murch Eliot whose winning 10:02.82 broke the school record. Penn freshman Carolyn Yang was second in 10:14.89, while Reese Iriondo was the first Tiger to cross the finish line, in 10:18.91.
Larson dipped under 1:50 to win the 200 free in 1:49.50. Second place went to Meagan Dollard from Penn (1:50.34) who finished just a wee bit ahead of Cornell super-sprinter, Jenna Immormino (1:50.51).
Penn’s Rochelle Dong went 56.51 to win the 100 back. She was followed by half the Princeton roster: Sada Stewart (57.26), Temple (57.50), and Shirley Wang (57.72). The first Big Red backstroker to the wall was Victoria Kuhn, in 58.47.
Penn was dominant in the 100 breast; Haley Wickham led the Quaker scorers with a 1:04.57 first-place performance. Princeton’s Chan was second (1:05.16), while Cornell’s Chandra Yueh (1:05.91) touched third. In the 200, it was the Big Red’s Meredith Drummond out front (2:19.15); Penn’s Sydney Tan (2:21.80) and Ellie Grimes (2:22.15) both finished ahead of Princeton’s Chan (2:24.00).
Princeton looked strong in the butterfly events, beginning with the 200 where freshman Welshofer led the way in 2:03.06. Teammate Beverly Nguyen (2:03.72) wasn’t far behind. Taylor Sneed was the first Quaker in 2:04.01 and Isabelle Cecere led the Cornell contingent in 2:05.13. Later it would be the Tigers’ Larson who topped the field in the 100 fly; she won by more than a body length with 53.93. Cornell’s Immormino (55.23) held off Penn’s Dong (55.27) for second.
Cornell sophomore Cari Stankaitis went her best unrested times in both sprit free events, winning the 50 in 23.58 and taking third in the 100 with 51.25. In the 50, Princeton freshman Maddy Veith (23.97) and sophomore Katie Diller (24.01) both came in ahead of Penn’s Irene Katopodis (24.15). In the 100, Immormino out-touched Larson, 50.42 to 50.54 for the win; the Quakers’ highest scorer was freshman Virginia Burns (52.20) who was sixth overall.
Freshman Temple from Princeton powered through her fourth 50 to come out on top in the 200 back. She and Cornell’s Billy Murch Elliot turned together at the 150 wall but Temple was a half-second faster coming home and got the win, 2:02.51 to 2:03.07. Third went to Penn freshman Ryan Alexander with 2:04.88.
Cornell dominated the 500 free, sweeping the first three spots behind freshman Micaela Luders (4:54.76) and sophomores Currie Murch Elliot (4:56.80) and Anne Elling (4:58.23). Yang of Penn (5:00.12) scored next, then Princeton sophomore Rebecca Fleming (5:02.91).
Princeton sophomore Chan pulled out a big win for the Tigers in the 200 IM. She traded leads with Cornell’s Billy Murch Eliot and Drummond several times, and all three finished the breaststroke leg nearly together. Then Chan powered it home and got the touch, finishing in 2:05.64 to Murch Elliot’s 2:05.85 and Drummond’s 2:06.01. Yang was again Penn’s fastest, with 2:06.36.
Princeton’s divers were among the brighter stars of the meet. Sophomore Caitlin Chambers won both the 3-meter and 1-meter events with 291.40 and 288 points, respectively. Classmate Lisa Li was second in the 3-meter (266.05) and third in 1-meter (242.15), while sophomore Deborah Daly took fourth in 3-meter (245.50) and second in 1-meter (249.75). Cornell’s Bianca Herlitz-Ferguson finished third in 3-meter and 7th in 1-meter, while Penn’s Maggie Heller was fifth in both events.
Not surprisingly, given their prowess in the sprints, Cornell’s 200 free relay team won by a significant margin. Immormino (23.48), Stankaitis (22.95), Chandra Yueh (23.61) and Elling (23.59) combined for 1:33.63. Penn finished second with 1:36.25, just ahead of the Tigers’ 1:36.54.