The Crimson still owns first place after a thrilling second day of the Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – In a very fast second day of the 2015 Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, Harvard maintained its slim grip on first place, finishing the evening session with 924.5 points, just ahead of Yale (915.5) and Princeton (914.5) in the heated race for the The Frank Keefe Trophy.
Yale and Princeton stole the lead and battled back-and-forth for the early part of the evening session, but Harvard's backstrokers – Danielle Lee, Kristina Li and Kendall Crawford – combined to push the Crimson back into the lead. Lee spearheaded the late push, as she and Li finished 1-2 in the 100 back in 53.04 and 53.98, respectively. Crawford took fourth place not far behind (54.90), while Marissa Cominelli stole seventh in 55.29 to make it four finishers in the top-eight of the finals.
The Crimson divers were stout on the day, as Elina Leiviska and Jing Leung took second and third place, respectively, in the 3-meter prelims to earn a spot in the finals on Day 3. Leiviska combined for 296.05, just behind Princeton's Caitlin Chambers, while Leung scored 295.70. Alisha Mah (272.25) and senior Schuyler Moore (271.15) rounded out the Crimson divers to earn spots in Saturday's finals. Freshman Hannah Allchurch took top billing in the consolation finals, scoring 312.60, a drastic improvement from her prelims score.
The finals got started with a bang with a speedy 200 medley relay, where Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Harvard all eclipsed the previous pool record. The Bulldog quartet claimed first in 1:40.34, while Harvard brought up fourth place in 1:41.00 in the thrilling event.
In the next event, Sherry Liu and Kelsey Hojan-Clark took home third and fourth, respectively in the 1000 free to bolster Harvard's lead. Ashlee Korsberg and Regan Kology added points as well in seventh and ninth, respectively.
Freshman Geordie Enoch continued her stellar run in the Championship, taking the 400 IM in style. Enoch paced the field with her time of 4:15.22, a full three seconds faster than her prelims time from the morning, and a second faster than the rest of the pool.
After Crawford took seventh in the 100 fly in the 10th event of the Championships (54.79), Daniela Johnson claimed fifth in the 200 freestyle, just ahead of Victoria Chan's eighth-place finish. Senior co-captain Stephanie Ferrell added to the Crimson's cause with a superb race in the 100 breaststroke. Ferrell was just 0.10 off first place, touching the wall in second place in 1:02.20.
The 800 free relay was just as tight as the rest of the events all day as well. Harvard's Danielle Lee, Daniela Johnson, Sherry Liu and Geordie Enoch placed third in 7:15.99, just behind Princeton in first (7:14.58) and Yale (7:15.38) in second.
As things come down to the wire, Harvard, Princeton and Yale are separated by 10 total points with just seven events remaining. Day 3 of the Championships will air live on the Ivy League Digital Network starting with the prelims at 11 a.m.
