Women Swimmers and Divers Battle for Ivy Championship

This is the weekend that the Harvard women's swimming and diving team has been waiting for. This is the weekend of its Ivy Championship, and it's ready to go.

With the ups and downs of this year's season in perspective, the team decided to focus itself on beating arch rival Princeton and finishing in the top three.

"The team goal is to swim well, of course," said co-captain Steph Lawrence, "but also to enjoy our-selves while we are doing it. At the same time, we certainly will be gunning for Princeton because we want revenge for our dual meet loss against them earlier this year."

The Brown team is heavily favored going into the weekend, as it completed its perfect dual meet record a few weeks ago by demolishing Princeton. However, the runner-up position is up in the air between Princeton, Yale and, of course, Harvard.

The Crimson has little room for error in its quest to outrace the Tigers, who will be its biggest obstacle to second place. Fortunately, Harvard comes into the weekend with a strong game-plan and a lot of morale.

"We need to get behind each other in every swim," said sophomore Sue Machorek. "Championships are won and lost not based on individual performances but on coming together as a team and fighting for each place."

The more rigorous championship schedule certainly calls a team's depth into play more than a dual meet does. The Crimson should have an advantage over most of the field in this area, with strong performers in each event.

Furthermore, the Princeton squad has decided to bring nine divers to the meet instead of the usual three. This could cost it precious points because the decision allows it to bring fewer swimmers, who can compete in more varied and total events.

"[The Harvard divers] are set on splitting up Princeton's divers," said junior Courtney Swain. "Our other goal is to get all three of us in the top 12, which I think we can do."

Getting top places is a top priority for the swimming portion of the team as well, but those will be dependent on preliminary swims fast enough to qualify for finals.

"We are going to focus on getting as many swimmers into finals as possible," Lawrence said, "and to do that we need to be excited for prelims. Plus, we have to touch out Brown or Princeton swimmers in the close races if we want to achieve our team goals."

The Crimson will have its hands full with some of the toughest competition the Ivy League has ever produced. This field includes two Olympic finalists, versatile Christina Teuscher from Columbia and Backstroke specialist Nikki Dryden from Brown.

"I've been watching Nikki since I was a young girl in Canada," said sophomore Ana Cenanovic. "It's an honor to compete against an Olympian from my country, but her presence won't affect my concentration nor my performance."

Harvard balances out these standouts with some of its own.

The sprint and middle distance events are key to the Crimson line-up. Those are the events in which the team has the greatest depth this year.

Sophomore Nancy Jo and co-captain Jen Steffen both look strong to contend in the 200 and 500 Freestyles, while the sprint events will be packed with Crimson swimmers led by former Ivy champ senior Keiko Iwahara.

Perhaps one of the closest races of the meet could be the 200 Breaststroke. With several women see-sawing back and forth in dual meet victories and losses, all of the teams will be watching the finish wall closely.

Harvard's hopes may be set on sophomore Alexis Todor, who was the runner-up at last year's competition. After recovering from her moped accident only two months ago, she has regained her strength and confidence.

"I am looking forward to the race," Todor said. "I know that it is going to be a really close race, but I want to win this year."

She will be joined in the 100 Breaststroke by sophomore Corie Calfee, who transferred from Stanford this year.

And don't count out Harvard's Backstroke and Butterfly contingencies. The Backstroke races could be some of the Crimson's strongest. In fact, it has four swimmers in each of the discipline's distances.

In the Butterfly events, Harvard has several freshman eager to get their first Ivy Championship's experience underway.

"I've never swum at a big shave and taper meet where it is a team competition," said freshman Butterflier Pia Chock. "I think that will make the freshmen compete better because we know the team is counting on us. It is definitely better than swimming individually at national meets with just your coach there to support you."

With the team's goals focused around full support and pride, it is only fitting that one of its most important aspirations lies in the only truly team events, the relays.

"The relays are some of our most important races of the meet because they count as double points," Chock said. "Plus, we really want to do well in them because we are trying to make the NCAA `B' time standards."

The outcome of the meet will be based on numerous variables, but the Crimson seems to have its minds prepared and its sights set on a great meet.