W. Swimming Sets Records in Ivy Meetip

The Harvard women’s swimming and diving team finished day one of competition yesterday at the Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships tied with Yale for third place with 159 points. The Crimson trails Brown (232 points) and Princeton (207 points).

Senior co-captain Janna McDougall spearheaded the Crimson effort with an individual team record and two school records in relays in the finals.

McDougall swam the anchor leg on the opening 200-yard freestyle relay, closing out the strong efforts of freshman Molly Ward and juniors Anna Fraser and Jessi Walter. The foursome finished second with a new team record of 1:34.33, behind Brown’s new meet and pool record time of 1:32.42.

McDougall also anchored the winning 400-yard medley relay. The relay proved to be the most exciting moment for the Crimson on day one.

McDougall led off in a 56.68 backstroke split, a new team record. Lead-off swims can count for records because swimmers respond to the sound of the gun, as opposed to the relay take-off, which allows swimmers to anticipate the incoming teammate.

“Our relays were phenomenal. The 400 medley was amazing and I am just ecstatic,” McDougall said. “Everyone was so strong and this is just an amazing feeling.”

Sophomore breaststroker Erica De Benedetto was second in the water with a solid breaststroke split of 1:04.09. What was yet to come was nothing short of amazing for the Harvard team.

Fraser, fresh off a record in the 200 free relay, put a tentative season and shoulder injuries behind her, by splitting a lighting fast 54.64. These three swimmers’ set up freshman sensation Molly Ward for the anchor freestyle leg.

Ward finished off the Crimson’s attack by downing Brown freestyler and Jamaican Olympian Dawn Chuck in the final 100 with a stellar 49.98 split. Ward capped off Harvard’s second relay record of the night, touching the wall in a cumulative time of 3:45.41.

“It was really great to see these four girls reach their potential tonight and to see Janna swim as fast as we knew she could for these past four years,” senior distance ace Rebekah Lorenz said. “These records are well-deserved.”

Other standout performances for Harvard last night included junior Jane Humphries’s seventh place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (2:06.21, 2:05.51 prelims) and Ward and McDougall’s 4-5 punch in the 50-yard freestyle, 23.53 and 23.56, respectively.

Action continues for the Crimson on Friday and Saturday. Preliminaries begin each day at 11 a.m. and finals commence at 6 p.m.