As the Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championship concluded Saturday night, so too did the Bears' 2006 season. The championship, hosted by Harvard, ended with a sixth-place finish for Brown, with Eileen Robinson '06 and Jessica Larson '06 winning individual titles and Larson sharing the Diver of the Meet Award.
Princeton won the championship with 1,580 points to overcome Harvard. The Crimson took last year's title and was undefeated for the past two seasons, but its 1,445 points were only good enough for second place.
Meanwhile, in a tight race for third place, Columbia barely prevailed with 968.5 points to the University of Pennsylvania's 947. Yale was close behind in fifth place with 920 points, followed by Brown with 868 points.
"Overall, our effort was very good," said Head Coach Peter Brown. "I was disappointed in our finish, but at the same time, we didn't show what we're capable of. I think we were capable of a very strong third-place finish."
Two of the Bears' three individual wins came on the first day of competition on Thursday. In the 50-yard freestyle, Robinson finished with a time of 23.33, narrowly beating Meg Gill of Yale, who finished in 23.35. Robinson's time was also her personal best.
"Once you get to a certain time, it's hard to take off more," Robinson said. "I feel good that I'm still able to take off time."
Meanwhile, Larson took first place in the 1-meter dive with a score of 270.65, nearly five points ahead of the second-place finisher, Harvard's Sam Papadakis. The Bears also competed in two relays Thursday, placing second in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:34.39 and sixth in the 400-yard medley relay in 3:53.09.
On Friday, Bridgette Cahill '06 finished eighth in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:30.19. In the relays, the Bears took fourth place in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:45.83 and seventh place in the 800-yard freestyle relay in 7:42.80.
The last day of competition had one more individual victory in store for Brown. In the 100-yard freestyle, Robinson finished with a time of 50.56 to clinch the title, again clocking in at a personal best time.
Ashley Wallace '07 placed second in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:04.28, finishing behind Noelle Bassi of Harvard, who set a meet and Ivy League record with her time of 1:58.11.
Larson took to the boards again on Saturday, taking fourth place in the 3-meter dive with a score of 291.25, a disappointing finish after she'd scored as high as 308.69 in the event this season. Harvard's Alison Pipitone won the event with a score of 305.65, and Larson and Pipitone later shared the Diver of the Meet Award.
"It was nice to be recognized," Larson said. "It was a very nice gesture."
The Bears finished out the competition with the 400-yard freestyle relay, placing third in 3:28.45.
"In terms of the championship, we were a little disappointed," Larson said of the team's overall finish. While Robinson agreed that the Bears "didn't place as well as we would have liked," she added that "everyone competed well, and that's all you can ask of people."
As for the year as a whole, "We won four and lost three, and people put up pretty good times," Robinson said. "We did a pretty good job this season."
