It all comes down to this weekend for the Columbia women’s swimming and diving team. The results of the dual-meet season no longer matter. How a team performs at the Ivy League Championships is the only factor in all-Ivy honors and league standing. If the Lions want to cap the season on a high mark, however, they’ll need to take down the only two Ivy teams that blemished their record this year.
Tying the program’s best record for dual-meet wins in a season, the Light Blue went 9-2 overall (5-2 Ivy) this season under the guidance of head coach Diana Caskey. The Lions won six consecutive meets before Princeton edged them out on a 156-123 margin. The team rallied the following week, defeating Dartmouth by 110 points.
Princeton and Harvard, the only Ancient Eight teams that defeated Columbia this season, are the frontrunners in this year’s competition. Three-time defending champion Princeton (7-0 Ivy) is led by junior Alicia Aemisegger. In 2007, Aemisegger became the first member of the Ivy League in 24 years to take four titles in a single season. Aemisegger currently holds seven individual titles of her own, and needs six this weekend in order to break the all-time record of 13. Aemisegger is also the Ivy League’s frontrunner in meet record times in all events of 400 yards or greater.
Harvard also has a strong team, with school record holders in individual medley events, freestyle events, and butterfly events. Sophomore Katy Hinkle picked up the Ivy 50-yard freestyle championship last year, while junior Alexandra Clarke, despite falling to Aemisegger, took second in the 1,000-yard freestyle.
The Lions, who came in third last year—their best finish in program history—are ready to contend this year. Seniors Shannon Hosey, Hannah Galey, and Lauren Fraley have one last chance for titles in their final conference championships of their collegiate careers. Hosey defeated Princeton last year in the three-meter dive to take the title and become the co-diver of the meet.
Galey and Fraley also saw success last February—the former finished second in the 50-yard, 100-yard, and 200-yard freestyle events, and the latter ended in the top ten twice in the backstroke. Galey has a good chance this season of capturing two of the three events she almost won last year, as Princeton’s Brett Shiflett graduated last spring, leaving a vacancy in the top spot.
Columbia will also be contending with strong Yale and Penn teams, which trailed behind by a mere 30 and 50 points last year, respectively. Yale’s Susan Kim will provide a challenge in the breaststroke. She is the Bulldogs’ record holder in the 200-yard event and stole the record in the 100-yard competition this season from the Tigers.
Penn freshman Laura Klick, who took the 100-yard breaststroke against Harvard and put up a fight against Princeton earlier this year, will also be a demanding addition to the pool. The Quakers will be hampered by an injury to junior Sara Coenen, which has taken the backstroke champion out of the race.
The Lions host this year’s Ivy League Championships at the Nassau County Aquatics Center in East Meadow, N.Y. The competition lasts a total of three days, during which preliminary sessions begin at 11 a.m. and final sessions at 6 p.m.