Yale and Harvard claimed six-of-seven event titles in day three action at the 2017 Ivy League Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, extending their margin over the rest of the field to nearly 400 points.
Yale’s Cailley Silbert went back-to-back in the 1,000-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 9:44.17. The Ivy League titlist topped Penn’s Grace Ferry (9:47.77) and Harvard’s Willa Wang (9:50.09) in the timed final.
Harvard’s Sonia Wang—who has battled injury in her sophomore campaign—dropped 3.91 seconds from her preliminary time to repeat in the 400-yard individual medley in pool record fashion. Wang (4:14.21) bested Yale’s Destiny Nelson (4:15.23) by just over a second, while Penn’s Ellie Grimes placed third with a time of 4:16.14.
In one of the most exciting finals of the day, Harvard’s Brittany Usinger out-touched Yale’s Maddy Zimmerman in the 100-yard butterfly, where she was looking for her third-straight Ivy title. Usinger finished in 52.92, followed by Zimmerman in 52.94 and Yale’s Heidi Vanderwel in 53.80.
Penn’s Virginia Burns, who captured her third-straight Ivy title in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday evening, earned the 200-yard freestyle title with a pool record time of 1:45.51. Burns bested Harvard’s Miki Dahlke (1:45.54) by .03 seconds, while Yale’s Kina Zhou placed third (1:46.86).
Yale freshman Cha O’Leary won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:00.94—just off the pool record—and was followed by the Harvard duo of Meagan Popp (1:01.67) and Geordie Enoch (1:01.99).
Yale’s Heidi Vanderwel and Bella Hindley went 1-2 in the 100-yard backstroke, ending a three-year streak for the Harvard Crimson in the event. Vanderwel finished just .02 seconds off the pool and championship meet record in 52.79, while Hindley touched the wall in 53.34. The Bulldog tandem was followed by a Harvard quartet in the event.
One-meter diving champion Mikaela Thompson of Harvard topped the consolation final in three-meter diving with a score of 289.45 and was followed by Harvard teammate Alisha Mah (279.50) and Yale’s Hannah Walsh (265.80). The three-meter diving finals will be contested on Saturday evening.
In the night’s final event, the 400-yard medley relay, Yale cruised to its fourth relay win—and fourth championship meet record—over the past three days. The Bulldogs touched the wall in 3:35.95 to win its ninth relay over the past two Ivy League Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.
Through fourteen events, Yale and Harvard continue to distance themselves from the rest of the Ivy League field with 1103 and 1035.5 points, respectively. Princeton sits in third with 662 points, while Penn is fourth with 655 points. Brown (597), Columbia (487.5), Cornell (441) and Dartmouth (250) round out the eight-team field.
