Women's Swimming & Diving: Princeton looks for 10th league title since 2000

As senior co-captain Ming Ong explained, there are pros and cons associated with hosting the tournament.

“There are advantages and disadvantages to having Ivies at home and having Ivies away,” Ong said. “It is going to be very exciting to have Ivies at home this year. It is always nice to have our alumni, family and friends to come and support us at DeNunzio.”

The Tigers (7-0 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) last competed almost three weeks ago when they toppled Columbia (5-4, 3-4) 196-104 to solidify their perfect league season. This is the team’s fifth straight undefeated Ivy season in dual meets. It also brought the women up to a 38-meet winning streak.

“We had a great undefeated dual meet season, but our year isn’t over yet,” Ong said. “We are excited and motivated from our results so far this year and maintaining focus on ourselves and the weekend ahead.”

Last year, Princeton took home a win of the Ivy League Championship at Harvard’s pool. The team won by 27 points, marking its ninth Ivy League victory in the past 11 years.

Despite some big losses from graduation such as Alicia Aemisegger ’10 who won the 500m freestyle race in the championships for her four years competing, the Tigers are looking strong going into the competition.

Many of the Tigers currently hold league-best times for their events. Ong’s win at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton dual meets in the 1,000m freestyle was a new league record. Senior co-captain Megan Waters also holds program records in the 50m free and 100m free, and took first place in the 100m free at last year’s Ivy League Championship. Junior Jillian Altenburger leads the league in the 200m free at 1 minute, 48.43 seconds.

The Tigers will look to freshman Lisa Boyce in the backstroke 100-yard race, as she currently holds the team record at 54.10 seconds. Freshman Andrea Kropp is also expected to lead the Tigers in the 100m and 200m breaststroke.

In the individual medley races, Princeton lost another four-year Ivy champion in the 200m race, Courtney Kilkuts.

Kropp is expected to have a strong showing in this event, while freshman Rebecca Lewinson has also proven her strength in the 400m IM with her first place finish at HYPs.

Despite their long break in competition before this important meet, Ong said, the team is ready.

“The team is preparing very well. We are concentrating on the meet and each doing what we need to in order to swim as fast as possible this weekend,” Ong said.

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In the opinion of head coach Susan Teeter, Harvard (6-1, 6-1) will be the team to beat. Since 2000, Harvard is the only other team to have won an Ivy League Championship besides the Tigers. At HYPs earlier this season, the Tigers defeated the Crimson by a whopping 114 points.

Overall, the team will be competing in 21 events, including 14 individual races, five relays and the three-meter and one-meter dives.

“We’re expecting some fast swimming, great competition and an energetic atmosphere — we want to race well and have fun while we’re doing it,” Ong said.