Women's Swimming & Diving: Hosts claim Ivy League title at DeNunzio

Of the 21 events at the championship meet, Princeton took home 12 first-place finishes, including diving competitions, four relays and six individual wins.

The Tigers saw strong leadership from senior Megan Waters, who was named the Swimmer of the Meet. Waters had first-place finishes in all seven events she swam. Princeton also had great showings in its youngest class, as freshman Lisa Boyce closely followed Waters with five first-place finishes and freshman Andrea Kropp took home four. Freshman Rachel Zambrowicz earned Diver of the Meet honors after her first-place finish in the one-meter competition.

The championship meet began on Thursday, and the Tigers finished day one in first place with 546.5 points, beating the second-place Crimson by 64 points. Waters, junior Kerry Gruendel, sophomore Carter Stephens and freshman Lisa Boyce teamed up to take the 200-yard freestyle relay with an NCAA B-cut time.

Waters went on to have a record-breaking performance three events later in the 50-yard freestyle. In the preliminary round, Waters broke Ivy League records by finishing the race in 22.36 seconds. In the finals, she finished in 22.44 seconds. Boyce and Stephens took third and fourth place, respectively.

To conclude the first day, Waters and Boyce teamed up with junior Meredith Monroe and freshman Andrea Kropp for the 400-yard medley relay. The foursome was victorious with a time of three minutes, 39.21 seconds. They defeated the second-place Yale team by five seconds and were only .01 seconds short of tying the league record, set by Princeton at the Ivy League Championships one year ago.

The Tigers increased their first-place lead to almost 100 points on the second day, bringing their score up to 1,054.5 points with Harvard still behind at 955 points. The day began with senior Carolyn Littlefield taking first place in the three-meter dive and Zambrowicz finishing in third.

Waters, Boyce, Stephens and Kropp kept the momentum going for the Tigers by achieving first place in the 200-yard medley relay. Waters and Stephens later took first and second place in the 100-yard butterfly, and Kropp took first in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Boyce and Monroe swam for first and second place in the 100-yard backstroke. Boyce’s time of 54.19 seconds in the preliminaries set a new Ivy League record in this event.

On the final day, Waters continued to dominate the competition, taking first place and a new Ivy League record in the 100-yard freestyle with 48.66 seconds. Boyce was only a second behind her to earn a second-place finish.

Kropp also continued her winning streak into the last day of competition, taking first place in the 200-yard breaststroke.

The Tigers finished the championship meet with a final first-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Boyce, Monroe, Waters and junior Jillian Altenburger finished in the top spot with Harvard swimmers trailing by .15 seconds.

Princeton will next compete in the NCAA Championships on March 17 in Austin, Texas.