Courtesy: Beverly SchaeferCOMPLETE RESULTS l FRIDAY RECAP
A Senior Day victory for Jillian Altenburger and an impressive win in the weekend finale by the 400 free relay squad were the Saturday highlights for a Princeton women's swimming and diving team that split its annual HYP weekend.
Princeton moved to 5-1 on the season by defeating Yale 197-103 and falling 199-99 to unbeaten Harvard. The Crimson wrapped up the league dual meet title with the win, but the Orange and Black will still have something to say when the Ivy League Championships come to Denunzio Pool (Feb. 28-March 2).
"Suzanne, Greg and I are extremely proud of the team effort this weekend," said head coach Susan Teeter, who has led Princeton to 10 of the last 13 Ivy League titles. "We knew this would be a monumental challenge with the training we have been doing and the focus we have on the end of the season.
"Our swimmers who were rested for the end of the season swims were amazing," Teeter added. "Our Ivy team had great races in practice suits against stiff competition. We look forward to hosting Ivy Championships in three weeks and having an opportunity to race in our home pool."
During its final home session of the regular season, Princeton honored the senior members of all three teams Saturday afternoon. Altenburger made the day even more special with an impressive win in the 500. Her time of 4:49.57 topped the field by more than half a second. She and classmate Carter Stephens, one of the team co-captains, joined junior Lisa Boyce and freshman Nikki Larson in winning the 400 free relay in 3:25.55, more than a second faster than the rest of the field.
Fellow co-captain Kathy Qu was part of a top-three finish in the 400 free relay. She anchored a quartet that included freshmen Megan Lydzinski, Mallory Remick and Elizabeth McDonald in 3:27.23.
Boyce and junior Laura Slater both had top-five finishes in the 100 free, with Boyce taking fourth in 50.85. Slater was just behind, taking fifth in 51.53.
The Tiger freshman duo of Sada Stewart (2:01.41) and Beverly Nguyen (2:03.91) took fifth and seventh, respectively, in the 200 back. Sophomores Cara Slear (2:18.46) and Emily Yu (2:19.13) followed with fourth- and fifth-place finishes in the 200 breast.
Qu, Larson and Stephens all had strong showings in the 100 fly, with Qu taking fourth in 55.00. Larson ended fifth in 55.43, while Stephens took sixth in 55.75.
Freshman Helen Zitkovsky finished a strong weekend with a second straight Top 3 finish in the diving events. She took third with 254.30 points in the 1-meter competition, while junior Randi Brown placed fifth with 243.85 points.
Nguyen and Stewart both had top-five finishes in the 200 IM. Nguyen finished fourth in 2:04.97, which topped classmate Stewart by one-hundreth of a second. Junior Rebecca Lewinson added a seventh-place finish in 2:07.25.
Princeton will complete its regular season this Friday when it heads to Columbia Friday afternoon for a 2 pm showdown.
