The Miami Hurricanes lost both relays but still managed to beat the visiting Princeton Tigers Friday night 156-144.
That win came on the back of four combined individual wins from junior transfer Christina Leander, sophomore Ksenia Yuskova and junior Angela Algee.
Leander, who transfers in after two years with Tennessee, won the 100 back and 200 IM and very nearly stole a third title in the 200 back to boot. Leander was 55.78 in running away with the 100 back title, topping freshman Hurricane Roxanne Yu’s 57.10. Leander won the 200 IM in 2:06.05, just four tenths up on Princeton junior Olivia Chan (2:06.43). Yu would get a revenge win in the 200 back, going 2:00.63 to beat out Leander’s 2:01.02.
Yuskova, meanwhile, won the 200 free and 500 free. The 500 saw Yuskova fall behind Princeton freshman Monica McGrath early, but make a big comeback in the final 200 to go 4:58.03.
The 200 was an equally tough test, going up against Princeton senior Nikki Larson, who would sweep the sprint frees in this meet. But in the middle-distance 200, Yuskova popped a 1:50.05, coming from nearly a half-second behind on the final 50 yards to edge out Larson’s 1:50.44.
No one would run down Larson in the sprints, though. The Tiger senior went 23.88 to pace the 50 free in a 1-2-3 for Princeton, then was 51.18 to win the 100 free over Miami’s Julie Suarez (51.30).
Princeton actually won both relays for big points. The 200 medley was 1:46.27, touching out Miami by just a tenth. Chan was huge on breaststroke, outsplitting Miami by a full second with her 29.61 split, and Madalyn Veith anchored in 23.34, running down Miami for the win.
The 200 free relay was another tight finish, with Veith holding off Miami’s Angela Algee. Algee had the fastest split in the pool at 23.01, but Princeton’s combo of Veith (23.23) and Larson (23.21) was too much to handle, and Princton won 1:34.84 to 1:35.15.
Algee did sweep the 100 and 200 fly individually, going 55.67 and 2:00.93.
Miami crushed it on the diving boards, though, going 1-2-3 on both 1-meter and 3-meter. Carolyn Chaney was the 1-meter champ at 320.10, and Wally Layland won on 3-meter with a 326.18.
Miami junior Cameron Davis won the 1000 free to help the Hurricanes rule the longer distances. Miami also won the 100 breast with junior Julia Schippert (1:06.25).
Second in that 100 breast was Princeton rookie Lindsey Swartz, who came back to beat Schippert for the 200 breast title. Swartz trailed at the 50 but charged back to win the race 2:19.95 to 2:21.84.