The women's swimming and diving team took seventh place at Ivy Championships, a three-day event held at Harvard over the weekend. Bruno finished the weekend with 601.5 points, 16 points ahead of last-place Dartmouth.
"Our attitude was great, and we fought till the end," said Head Coach Peter Brown. "We just didn't have quite the depth we needed to get in the mix with Cornell and Columbia."
The meet started with preliminary races Thursday afternoon, followed by finals later in the day. Brown kicked off the finals with a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Susannah Ford '10, Bridget Ballard '10, Candice Sisouvanvieng-Kim '11 and Kristen Caldarella '12 shed just under three seconds from their prelim time to touch the wall behind third-place Princeton, at 1:34.32.
Kristin Jackson '13 helped Brown gain momentum by taking first in the consolation final and ninth overall in the 200-yard individual medley. Caldarella wrapped up the swimming events of the day, placing seventh in the 50-yard freestyle. Brown ended the day in sixth place with 175 points.
Brown's swimming at the Ivies hit both its high and low points Friday. The finals started shaky for the women's squad as the team was disqualified from the 200-yard medley relay, according to Brown. But Jackson put Brown back on track by taking sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke, despite being seeded eighth from the prelims.
Her time of 1:04.40 set a new Brown record in the event — a record that had been standing for over 22 years.
"Jackson broke the oldest record in the book, and she did it as a freshman, which is just amazing," Brown said.
Despite Jackson's history-shattering performance, Brown dropped to seventh with one day left in the competition. Caldarella led Brown to its highest individual finish of the meet, taking fourth place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.17.
Katie Olko '10 kept Brown's momentum going, placing eighth in the one-meter diving event and earning the title of career-high-point diver. The Ivies came to an end after Brown took fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The Bears maintained their position from Friday to finish the meet in seventh. The Princeton Tigers — who beat Brown 190 to 102 in the regular season — took the championship title for the 17th time with a total of 1,465 points.
The team is optimistic about next year, especially with the addition of the incoming freshman recruits, Brown said.
"We have made a lot of strides that may not show on paper," he added. "But I have a better feel for the team now, and the girls did a great job this year."
