Women’s Swim And Dive Places Third At Ivy Championships

Last week marked the pinnacle of the season for the women’s swim and dive team (9-1, 6-1 Ivy) as it headed to the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center at Brown University to compete in the four-day Ivy League Championship Meet.

The facility is dubbed as one of the fastest pools in the Northeast, and the Crimson arrived hoping this would ring true as it competed against all seven Ivy League schools in front of a bustling 400-person crowd. Harvard has finished in the top two of the conference for the past 22 years and has claimed 15 Ivy titles. This meet, it was hungry for a sweet sixteenth championship title.

However, the Crimson ended the meet in third place, ending its 22-year-long top-two streak. Princeton (12-0, 7-0) and Penn (10-2, 5-2) took the first two spots, respectively, and the Crimson just narrowly edged out Brown. Over the long weekend, the top four schools tallied over a thousand points each: Princeton with 1432, Penn with 1204, Harvard with 1153.5, and Brown with 1137.

Despite the relatively disappointing team placement, diving captain Tabitha Chen-Fiske had a sunny outlook after the team’s hard-fought competition.

“I would say it’s a challenge, because you’re competing against people who are really good, but it also pushes us to be at our best, which is something that’s very cool to see, how we rise to the challenge,” Chen-Fiske said.

Each day featured preliminary races and finals, so the packed stands were treated to constant competition every day of the event, in anticipation of a team being crowned champion on the fourth day. Junior swimming co-captain Isabella Alas remarked on the energized atmosphere around the meet.

“I mean, the energy was just electric,” Alas said. “It was just such good vibes all around. We were doing a lot of different cheers, a lot of chants, and I feel like we were the loudest, by far, on deck.”

The Crimson started strong, securing the first win of the competition in dramatic style. The 200-yard medley relay team, featuring senior Anya Mostek, freshman Aliana Marakovic, senior Sydney Lu, and junior Blythe Wieclawek, made a statement in the first of two finals of the day with a time of 1:36.13. They set program, Ivy League, and pool records as they raced to gold. This result, paired with a third-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay, put Harvard in top position after day one.

Harvard’s Head Coach Amanda Kulik spoke proudly of the consistent energy on day one that continued throughout the meet.

“I think that the fight and the spirit that our team showed was extraordinary,” the coach said. “The way that our relays took it out on Wednesday to the fight that we had in the Friday night session, that reflected our team, the spirit of our team, the persistence of every single person on the board and in the pool.”

Day two began with promise for the Crimson thanks to success from seasoned competitors, including junior Alexandra Bastone, who dominated the 500 free from start to finish to take gold. This performance also earned her a spot at the NCAA Championships. It was the only final race of the day that was not won by a Princeton swimmer.

Other school records continued to be broken, with Mostek breaking her own record as runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle final with a time of 22.18. The Haverford, Pa., native also featured in the second-place finish by the 200 freestyle relay team, which took over half a second off the previous school best.

Junior swimming co-captain Stephanie Iannaccone said the team worked to build on its momentum from successful races and dives, taking each challenge one at a time.

“Our main focus is just eyes on us,” Iannaccone said. “We were just trying to have fun the entire meet, and I think we did a good job of that as well.”

In the diving pool, senior Nina Janmyr was the top Harvard finisher of the day with third-place finishes in the one-meter and three-meter finals, despite placing first in the one-meter preliminary dives earlier in the day. Janmyr explained the pressure of the Ivy League competition.

“There’s so much pent-up energy, like with the whole team being there, and I’ve been to a lot of different meets, but honestly, Ivy League Champs is something that makes me the most nervous,” Janmyr said.

To cope with pressure, the diver centers herself and remembers to have fun.

“I make sure that I sit down, take a deep breath in between each one and just focus on each time, one, one at a time, and not try and overthink everything, and just look over to my teammates before I go and just try and enjoy it,” she added.

Diving coach Tracey Bird said that even some of the team’s less-than-ideal diving performances did not stem from a lack of effort.

“Those that didn’t perform as they hoped that they would, it was almost as though they were giving too much effort and trying too hard and not just relaxing and letting the training fall into place,” Bird said. “Even when they faltered, kept competing and just kept their heads, you know. And I was just so proud of the way that everybody competed.”

Princeton’s domination on day two helped it overcome Harvard in the team standings and saw them lead the pack going into the third day.

On day three, Mostek cemented her place in the program’s history books, completing a feat achieved by only one other Ivy League swimmer ever. With a time of 51.31, she struck gold for the fourth consecutive year in the 100-yard backstroke, whilst setting an Ivy League record and punching her ticket to the NCAA championships.

To center herself before her biggest races like this, Mostek focuses on having a “goldfish mentality” and translating her nerves into excitement.

“Physiologically, you being really stressed and you being really excited are the same,” Mostek said. “You’re shaking, you’re sweating, and so it’s pretty much a decision to be made. You can flip that switch. Your body doesn’t know the difference, so I just tell myself, I’m excited. That's how you have fun with it.”

The 400-yard medley relay was also a highlight of the day, beating out Princeton by over three seconds and breaking the Ivy League Record.

“I was so excited to see a lot of program records go down, because records are always made to be broken,” Kulik said.

Even with these record-setting performances, the Crimson was unable to hold its position on the leaderboard, slipping to bronze behind Princeton and Penn going into the final day of the championship.

However, Harvard continued to go stroke for stroke with its competitors on the final day, seizing even more medals.

Two stellar performances across the four days saw Mostek and Janmyr claim Career High Point swimmer and Career High Point diver, respectively. These titles are awarded annually to the swimmer and diver who achieve the most points in Ivy League competition in their four years of eligibility.

By the end of the meet, Mostek had “kind of forgotten” that the award was within reach. But once she received it, she was thrilled that she and Janmyr could put Harvard back in the spotlight after it had faced tough competition.

Individuals' success also saw Mostek, Bastone, and Lu achieve automatic qualifications to the NCAA Championships thanks to a change in collegiate format. This year, athletes could automatically qualify for the championships, which take approximately the best 35 competitors in the country per event, by swimming faster than a preset NCAA standard.

Though the season is not quite over, Kulik expressed her gratitude for the impact the graduating senior class has had on the Harvard swim and dive program as a whole.

“The biggest thing is for this class, their steadiness and their presence and their drive has been so consistent, and the dedication that they put into the team,” Kulik said. “No matter what happens, [that] has been like something that’s so special from the senior class. They’re all such caring individuals, too, and also very creative and dynamic and just very much themselves.”

Even with success across the four-day competition, the title evaded the Crimson as it finished behind both Princeton and Penn. Although the team may not have gotten its hands on the Ivy Championship, the work in the pool continues for the swimmers as they turn attention to the NCAA Championship in a few weeks, whilst the divers will compete in the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships in Annapolis, Md., from March 9-11.

— Staff writer Rihannon Stewart can be reached at [email protected].

— Staff writer Avani Shah-Lipman can be reached at [email protected].