W. swimming slays Harvard, bows to Brown

It was a tale of two cities and two Ivy League rivals. And two very different results.

Saturday the women's swimming and diving team (8-2 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) exploded into the water to capture a thrilling 180-120 victory over Harvard in Cam-bridge, Mass. Sunday Princeton fought with the same intensity against Brown, but Providence, R.I., afforded no such success, as the Tigers fell to the Bears, 177-122.

At the close of the meet Sunday, the Tigers had no regrets, however. Though the team had made a valiant effort, the message became clear: Brown simply came out and swam better.

"We just didn't have it on Sunday," senior co-captain Amanda Carlson said. "We used the same lineup, but they were better prepared than we were."

Roadblock

As a perennial rival and the reigning Ivy champion, Harvard and Brown, respectively, seemed the only obstacle in the Tigers' route to an Ivy League dual-meet championship. Princeton needed to prove its mettle to emerge victorious.

Taking control of its own destiny, the team steamrolled past the Crimson. In the Tigers' past victories, they had dominated meets by placing first in a majority of events. Saturday Princeton applied this winning formula and rebounded from last weekend's loss to Penn State.

The tone of the meet started strongly in Princeton's favor, as the Tigers grabbed two solid firsts in the 200-yard medley relay and the 1000 freestyle.

Princeton's handling of Harvard did not stop there. Junior Bess Frank and freshmen Amy Roth and Sangeeta Puri swept the top three places in the 100 backstroke with times of 57.87 seconds, 57.88 and 58.84, respectively. Sophomore distance star Alyson Goodner paced the competition in the 200 butterfly in 2:07.34, followed closely by sophomore Katie Egan, who finished in 2:07.55.

Sophomore Sarah Fox nearly upstaged Frank with her lifetime best finish of 53.11 in the 100 free. Sophomore Rory McClosky also recorded a lifetime best swim en route to a second-place finish in the 200 back.

Sunday Princeton sought a tremendous sweep that would seal an undefeated Ivy season. The Tigers entered Providence with an optimistic outlook, energized after Saturday's convincing performance.

The Tigers' main downfall lay in the lack of first-place finishes. With only five wins in the entire meet, Princeton struggled to keep up with its Brown competitors.

"The points simply did not fall our way," freshman Kristin Szumera said.

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Still, the Tigers' two star freshmen divers, Erin Lutz and Danielle Stramandi, performed well yet again, hoarding the top two positions on the oneand three-meter boards both Saturday and Sunday. The pair has served as a constant bright spot during Princeton's season.

When the competition came to racing, however, the Tigers were simply touched out.

Princeton's 400 free relay team provided hope for the future, however, as sophomore Yen Tay, Carlson, Fox, and Frank flew to victory with a time of 3:31.36. Even in the depths of defeat, the Tigers failed to yield to Brown.

Princeton will attempt to avenge its loss Feb. 26-28 when Harvard hosts the first-ever Ivy League Championship.