Coming off of a victory over Wagner College and a defeat against Rutgers University, the women’s swimming and diving team powered to a first-place finish in the Bruno Invite this weekend. The Bears hosted Dartmouth, Princeton, the University of Miami, Johns Hopkins University, Villanova University and Rider University in the three-day long meet. Brown led the scoreboard throughout the weekend and finished with 992 points after amassing 269 on day one and 637 by the end of day two.
“One of our major mantras for this meet is to swim with ‘no expectations, but not low expectations,’ which has made the past two days of racing extraordinarily exciting,” said Kelley Tackett ’20, Herald copy desk chief. “There’s a lot of energy behind the blocks that just keeps building off of every swim.”
The Bears earned numerous first-place finishes throughout the meet and started the weekend by tying a program record of 1:31.21 in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Miku Takabayashi ’22 also set a school record of 2:01.19 in the 200-yard individual medley race Friday. Other notable performances included a second-place finish for the 200-yard medley relay team and a third-place, 54.72 second performance from Andrea Wei ’22 in the 100-yard butterfly.
“Especially compared to two years ago when (the Bruno Invite)was here, (the competition) is a lot faster,” said Sarah Welch ’20. “It’s giving us a better opportunity to race and to see how we’re doing.”
On the final night of the meet, Bruno clinched the victory with a few clutch performances. In the 100-yard freestyle, the Bears dominated, as Taylor Seaman ’21, Marley Cross ’20 and Maddie Salesky ’19 took home the top three places. Brown won first place in the 400-yard freestyle relay with an impressive 3:18.90 time from the team of Salesky, Seaman, Cross and Tatiana Prendella ’19.
“One advantage to big invites like (the Bruno Invite) is getting to swim against competitors from outside the league,” Tackett said. “More competition always means more opportunities to get better, and we’re working hard to claim our space in and among the top scorers of the invite.”
Behind the Bears in the final standings, Princeton finished in second place with 852 points, followed by Villanova, Miami, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins and Rider.
“It’s really exciting to beat (Princeton) because … they are usually some of our biggest competition,” said Julia Benz ’20. “(There is) a lot of good competition, a lot of good swimmers (and) a lot of good divers. We’ve had a lot of people come and watch, which is really great. … We’ve had a record turnout, so it’s really fun.”
The Bears will return to competition with a meet against Ivy League rivals Penn and Harvard in Cambridge, MA Jan. 12.
