Aquawomen Slink Penn, 90-50, Clinch Second Ivy Title in Row

Last year, the Harvard women's swimming team clinched its first-ever Ivy League championship with a 93-47 victory over Penn at Blodgett Pool. The squad celebrated by throwing Coach Maura Costin and others into the water, and followed this wet ritual by dancing and partying.

Saturday, the Crimson clinched its second straight Ivy League championship with a 90-50 victory over Penn at Sheerr Pool in Philadelphia.

This time, Coach Maura Costin Scalise, who has added both a championship ring and a wedding ring to her hand in the past year, begged her swimmers to be merciful.

They dumped her in again.

But while the squad is very happy to hold on to its crown, there is still some work to be done.

Specifically, the Crimson wants to win its first-ever Eastern Championships, a three-day meet that begins Thursday in Providence, R.I. Harvard has never finished higher than last year's third place showing, but has the talent to challenge Penn State and perennial champ Brown for the 1987 title.

Regardless of the result of Easterns, the win over the Quakers capped off a perfect dual meet season for Harvard (9-0 overall, 7-0 Ivy League)--its first ever. It also marks the Crimson's second-straight year without an Ivy loss.

"For an Ivy League coach," a dried-off Costin Scalise said, "winning a title is the most important thing that you can accomplish. By winning, we proved to everyone that last year was no fluke."

Ironically, the last league setback for the Crimson came two year ago in the same Sheerr Pool, when an upset-minded Quaker team stunned Harvard in a similar situation, right before Easterns.

This year, Penn again had hopes of an underdog victory, as a win would have placed the Quakers in a three-way tie for the top spot in the Ivies, along with the Crimson and Brown.

But any dream of a Penn title was quickly squashed by Harvard, as it narrowly won the opening relay and never looked back.

Seven times in the 14 individual events, the Crimson swept its opponent with a one-two finish. In four of those races--the backstroke and breaststroke events--Harvard went one-two-three.

"Penn had some talent, but not enough to beat us," Costin Scalise said. "You can't win an Ivy League title on a whim."

Freshman Kaari Reierson snagged both the 100 and 200-yd. backstroke races, while fellow yardlings Michelle Sang and Nina Anderson followed her lead. Sang grabbed the 1000 freestyle by three seconds and Nina Anderson touched out teammate Linda Suhs to take the 50 freestyle.

Junior Molly Clark and freshman Mia Costello played flip-flop in the breaststroke races, as Costello narrowly defeated Clark in the 100, while Clark came back in the 200 to snare the gold. Janice Sweetser had a close race in the 500 freestyle, but was able to touch out her Penn opponent by .39 of a second.

Dominance

In the 400 medley relay, Sheila Findley teamed up with Costello, Anderson, and Suhs to capture a race that went down to the wire--Harvard finishing on top by only .15.

Sophomore Jenny Greene set two new team records while taking the diving competition. Her one-meter score of 324.15 bettered the mark she set two weeks earlier at Princeton, as did her score of 326.10 on the three-meter board. In the process, Greene finished the dual meet season undefeated at 14-0.

Last year, Harvard made winning the Ivy League its primary goal, so its subsequent third-place finish at Easterns was a bit of a let down. This season, the Crimson made it clear that capturing an Eastern Championship would be the aim.

So while the aquawomen are happy with their league crown, they'd like to be at the center of an even bigger party Saturday night at Smith Swimming Center.