Women's swimming coasts to easy victory at Princeton Invite

Everything that starts well ends well. The proverb seems to be in Princeton's side in every way possible. After starting off the week overcoming their archrival Brown, the women's swimming team defeated Bucknell, Drexel, and Rider on Sunday at the Princeton Invitational. That same day, the women divers proved their supremacy over the Ivy League by beating Harvard.

A season that began well for the Tigers with a victory over Boston College on Nov. 9 has continued to be good for Princeton. The Tigers, ranked No. 24 in the College Swim Coaches Association of America Poll, defeated every one of its rivals, including Penn, Cornell, and archrival Brown.

This weekend, the Tigers managed to rack up 1,429.5 points to finish first ahead of second-place Bucknell, third-place Drexel, and fourth-place Rider. Amazingly enough, Princeton scored almost 1000 more points than the Bison, who scored 529 total points. Drexel came in third with 261.50 and Rider finished fourth.

The cold day was paradoxical to a warm environment inside DeNunzio Pool, heated up by the Tiger swimmers who appeared to be in one of their training sessions.

A father, overwhelmed by the victory, was describing the event to his wife using a cell phone, "They're just pounding them," he kept saying, "It just looks so easy to them."

And one might wonder whether the team is just rushing through these matches in order to get to the final prize - the Ivy Championships in February.

"We're not necessarily worried that we might lose," senior Kate Conroy said, "but we take every single meet seriously and prepare for all of them just as if we were going to a National Championship."

Taking a look at the results is more than encouraging. Princeton athletes took first place in each of the first seven events, and the Tigers finished 1-2-3-4 in 16 events. Sophomore Molly Fraumann led a 1-2-3-4 finish in the 1650-yard free (16:47.18) and sophomore Lisa Battaglia did the same in the 200 free (1:56.63).

Senior Kate Conroy continued her early-season dominance with a victory in 100 back (56.78), another event in which Princeton went 1-2-3-4. Sophomore Meredith Saylor led a Tiger sweep in the 100 breast (1:07.88) and senior Jocelyn Petrella led a sweep in the 200 fly.

Both the 200 Individual Medley and 100 free events were conquered by freshman Stephanie Hsiao, with times of 2:07.17 and 51.60. Another Tiger who continued her great year was senior captain Jocelyn Petrella, who led the way in a 1-2-3-4 finish in the 100-yard fly.

The diving team defeated Harvard just as easily as the swimmers conquered their opponents. Princeton took the top spot in the 1- and 3-meter competitions. Senior Katherine Mattison took first in the one-meter event with 293.17 points, followed by senior Danielle Stramandi with 288.68. Both scores qualify the divers for the NCAA Zonal Championships in March. Stramandi also qualified for the three-meter with her first place tally of 275.1. Mattison placed second in this event with a score of 262.21 and Mary Mulcare placed third to give the Tigers a 1-2-3 finish on the 3-meter board. Freshman Maggie Littlefield also qualified for the NCAA Zonal Championships on the platform with a total score of 435.

A month-long break awaits the Tigers, that will compete the following meet against Dartmouth on Jan. 27.

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"This break works for or own advantage," Conroy said. "It gives us some time to spend in the weight room and the pool and gets us together as a team."

If the break will get them better, imagine what Dartmouth will get when they come to DeNunzio Pool in January to face the Tigers.