They came in from all over to celebrate 40 years of Women’s Swimming and Diving at Yale and to watch the Bulldogs defeat Brown on Senior Day at Kiphuth Exhibition Pool. Legendary coach Frank Keefe and Eve Atkinson, Yale’s first woman head coach were there, as were over 100 alumnae. The current batch of Bulldogs put on a nice show for their predecessors, beating the Bears, 171 to 72.
First out of the gates was Yale’s 200 medley relay “A” team of Heidi VanderWel, Paulina Kaminski, Maddy Zimmerman, and Kina Zhou, who defeated both Yale’s “B” squad and the Brown quartet of Jenna Zagoren, Aja Grande, Caroline Vexler, and Reia Tong.
Eva Fabian, back from representing Team USA in Perth, Australia, shook off her jetlag and won the 1000 free (10:09.61) and 500 free (4:57.58), leading a trio of Bulldogs in each event. Casey Lincoln (10:22.60) and Olivia Jameson (5:01.93) were runners-up, while Lauren Levy (10:47.00) and Elly Vitek (5:06.81) led the Bears’ efforts, respectively.
Vitek was also the fastest Bear in the 200 free with 1:53.98. She finished third behind Yale’s Cheryl Xiang (1:52.54) and Danielle Liu (1:53.12).
Kate Dillione rocked the sprint free with 23.60 in the 50, winning ahead of Amy Zhao of Yale (24.00). Dillione then finished second to Yale’s Kasey Mann by .07 in the 100 fly, 56.42 to 56.49. Brown’s Grande (51.86) and Tong (52.23) went 1-2 in the 100 free; Xiang was third (52.43).
Zhou (2:05.66) led teammates Emma Smith (2:06.10) and Liu (2:07.81) in a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 IM, with Gina Matsumoto (2:08.36) placing fourth for Brown. Yale’s Kate Rogers led the field in the 100 back, touching in 57.88 ahead of teammate Sydney Hirschi (59.18) and Zagoren of Brown (59.57). Kaminski and fêted senior Elizabeth Larsen had a close race in the 100 breast, finishing 1-2 in 1:05.06 and 1:05.46, respectively.
Brown’s Dillione (51.73), Grande (51.50), Korby Simpson (51.74) and Tong (51.42) won the 400 free relay to close out the meet.