The women's swimming and diving team went head-to-head with Ivy foes Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend in a pair of high-intensity duels. On Friday, the defending Ivy League Champion Crimson squad proved too much to handle on their home turf, defeating the Bears 179.5-115.5. Bruno bounced back two days later with a 149-79 trouncing of Dartmouth to claim its first Ivy victory of the year.
Brown began its league schedule by traveling to Cambridge to battle a very talented Crimson team. After a brutal month of conditioning and aerobic training, the Bears were in for a tough fight with their neighbors to the North.
"Harvard has plenty of talent, and we had our hands full in each event," said Head Coach Peter Brown. "We wanted to see where we were at with our training while competing hard and together as a team."
Emily Brush '07, Aly Wyatt '08, Elizabeth Wong '06 and tri-captain Eileen Robinson '06 began the meet with a solid performance in the 200-yard medley relay. Their time of 1:47.61 was good for second place. Dillon Delaney '08 and Becky Kowalsky '07 snagged a pair of bronzes in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard free, respectively.
Robinson returned to the pool to take a share of first place in the 50-yard free. The senior and her Harvard opponent both touched the wall in a time of 24.28.
Meredith Cocco '07 swam to a second place finish in the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:04.17. Cocco went on to take third in the 100-yard fly and first in 200-yard individual medley.
"Our goal was to race well and feel good about our performance as a team," Cocco said. "Overall, I think that we did that."
Bruno saved the best for last, as Robinson, Wong, Kowalski and Sarah Goodman '09 took the top spot in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:33.14.
In the diving competition, tri-captain Jessica Larson '06 dominated the boards once again, with convincing wins in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Dana Meadow '07 collected a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter.
A weary Brown squad returned home on Sunday to host an equally tired Dartmouth team, which was also competing in its second meet of the weekend. The trip south did little to help the Big Green's tired fins as they floundered through thirteen events at the Smith Swim Center. For the second time in three meets, the Bears swept first-place in every race of the competition.
Wong attributed the string of victories to the team's greater depth this year than last.
"We gained a lot of fast swimmers and we can fill every event with a lot of talented women," she said. "The additions to our team can only mean an improvement in our performance for this year."
The meet began with a 1-2 finish in the 200-yard medley. The winning team of Brush, Wyatt, Kowalski and Wong beat out their teammates by less than one second.
In the distance events, Delaney won the 1,000-yard free with a time of 10:36.92. Tri-captain Katey Mirch '06 followed in 10:38.15, good for second. The onslaught continued with a sweep of the 200-yard free. Wyatt won the event in 1:56.76, while Ainsley McFadgen '09 and Robinson snagged the second and third positions.
Wong and Goodman sprinted to first and second-place in the 50-yard free. Not to be outdone, Cocco, Bridgette Cahill '06 and Lauren Harlow '07 swept the top three spots in the 200-yard IM. Ashley Wallace '07 and Kowalsky captured golds in the 100-yard fly and the 100-yard free, respectively.
Bruno closed out the action in the lanes with wins in the 100-yard backstroke, the 500-yard free, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard free relay.
The diving team continued its success behind another double win by Larson. The senior won the 1-meter with a score of 288.82 and the 3-meter in a mark of 294.68. Meadow will join Larson in the postseason with her NCAA Zone qualifying score of 256.34 in the 1-meter event. Meadow also placed second in the 3-meter. Jessica Williams '09 completed the sweep of the 3-meter with her third-place finish.
"The Dartmouth meet gave us a good chance to see how we look in different events while gaining additional competitive experience," Coach Brown said. "I was proud of our ability to come right back and have a good meet on Sunday."
The Bears will return to the water in two weeks for the Brown Invitational, which will run from Dec. 2-4.
