Female Athlete of the Year: Aemisegger starred from day one

Nearly four years ago, Alicia Aemisegger arrived on campus as one of the most highly touted recruits in the history of the Princeton swimming and diving program. To say the least, she lived up to the billing.

Aemisegger punctuated what has been a stellar career from start to finish with an outstanding senior campaign. She carried the team to its ninth Ivy League title in 11 years. At the NCAA Championships, she led the Tigers to an 18th-place finish despite being joined at the meet by only two other teammates. Princeton was the only non-scholarship school to place in the top 20 and was one of only two non-BCS schools in the top 20.

Aemisegger’s individual accomplishments this season are unprecedented in program history. She finished second at the NCAA Championships in the 1,650-yard final, bettering her third-place finish from a year ago. She also finished fourth in the 400-yard individual medley and fifth in the 500-yard freestyle.

Aemisegger concludes her career with a total of 13 All-America honors. She competed in 10 championship finals and had nine top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships. She won all 12 of the individual events she participated in at the Ivy League Championships over her four years and led the Tigers to three Ivy League titles. After losing the Ivy League Championship to Harvard last season, Aemisegger guided the Tigers back to the title in 2010.

Aemisegger is certainly one of the most talented swimmers the program has ever seen, but her drive and dedication are just as outstanding. Last season, she came down with a stomach flu right before the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet. Despite spending the night in the hospital and receiving four IV drips, Aemisegger persevered and participated in the meet the next morning. The result? Three first-place finishes.

But this year hasn’t been a breakout year for Aemisegger. She has followed in a legacy that she created for herself since the day she set foot on campus.

As a freshman, she finished second in the 400-yard individual medley and third in the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships. It was the best NCAA performance by any swimmer in the program history. She represented the U.S. at the World University Games that summer and finished fourth in two events.

In the Ivy League championships, Aemisegger won the 500-yard freestyle, 1,000-yard freestyle and 200-yard breaststroke. She also anchored the winning 800-yard freestyle relay team. In total, Aemisegger set six individual records as a freshman and helped set a seventh in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

She picked up where she left off during her sophomore year, winning three individual Ivy League titles and leading Princeton to its first relay All-America honor since 1981 at the NCAA Championships. She added All-America honors in the 400-yard IM, 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle, bringing her total to seven through two years. She also participated in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials finals in the 400 IM, a race that was televised live nationally on NBC.

As a junior, Aemisegger picked up three more All-America honors to bring her total to 10. She was named Swimmer of the Meet at the Ivy League Championships for the third straight time despite the Tigers losing the title to Harvard. She ended the year with eight Princeton records, seven DeNunzio Pool records and four Ivy League records.

Aemisegger leaves Princeton not just as a the best swimmer on the team; she is the greatest swimmer the program has ever seen. She has taken a program that already had quite a legacy of its own before she arrived and brought it into the national spotlight year after year. In late December, goprincetontigers.com, the official website for Princeton athletics, named Aemisegger Princeton’s Athlete of the Decade.

For her outstanding dedication and determination and her unprecedented accomplishments, Alicia Aemisegger is the 2009–10 Daily Princetonian Female Athlete of the Year.