Ancient Eights travels to Cambridge for Ivy Championships

All eight women’s swimming and diving teams will collide in Cambridge, Massachusetts today to compete in the 2010 Ivy League Championships. This year’s championship meet marks the 38th in Ivy League women’s swimming history, and will determine the best team in the league through three days of intense competition.

In last year’s tournament, Harvard came away with the championship title, scoring 1583.5 points, while Princeton placed second with 1334, and Yale finished third with 1038. Columbia placed fifth in the meet with a score of 916.

While Harvard might have had the highest overall point total, it was Princeton who came away with the three individual awards of the competition, with Tigers Katie Giarra, Alicia Aemisegger, and Justina DiFazio being awarded “Diver of the Meet,” “Swimmer of the Meet,” and “Inaugural Career Points Champion,” respectively.

Many Ivy League records fell in the 2009 championship, with Princeton’s Aemisegger setting new standards in the 500 free, 1650 free, and 400 IM championship events, while Aemisegger’s record in the 1000 free in 2008 still stands. Princeton’s team also scored record times in three relay events, including the 200 and 400 medleys as well as the 400 free.

Two of Harvard’s swimmers were able to set records at the meet as well, with the Crimson’s Katie Mills achieving all-time bests in the 200 free and 200 fly events, while teammate Meghan Leddy crushed the Ivy Record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:57.51.

Yale’s Susan Kim was the final record-setter of the meet, achieving championship bests in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events with times of 1:02.05 and 2:12.86, respectively.

Although Columbia did not top any records at the 2009 meet, Columbian Cristina Teuscher’s time of 1:57.63 in the 200 IM, set in 1999, has not yet been knocked off the charts.

Heading into championship competition this year, Princeton leads the league with an undefeated 7-0 record in Ancient Eight competition, while Harvard is a close second with a record of 6-1. In the past ten years, Princeton has won eight Ivy League Championships, while Harvard has championed two.

The Championship meet will begin at 11 a.m. at Harvard’s Bloggett Pool in Cambridge and will last through Saturday, Feb. 27. Swimmers who qualify at Ivies for the NCAA tournament will move on to compete against the top Division I swimmers in the nation from March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Indiana.