Advertisement

Aquawomen Dip B.U., 166-102

Sweetser, Meyer Lead Easy Harvard Victory

The Harvard women's swimming team gave up more than 100 points for the first time in its history Saturday at Boston University.

And won, easily, 166-102.

Using a new scoring system--that awards 7-4-3-2-1 points for first-through-fifth places as opposed to the old 5-3-1 method--for only the second time ever, Harvard (4-0 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) still cruised to victory, taking 12 of the 16 events and clinching the meet with three events still left to be swum.

The new scoring method is only used this year in meets outside the Ivy League.

Sophomore Janice Sweetser helped pace the Crimson victory, capturing two individual events and taking third place in one other. Sweetser won both the 200 and 500-yd. freestyle races, each by a narrow margin, and grabbed third in the 100 freestyle. In the 200, Sweetser's time of 1:55.35 placed her just ahead of B.U.'s Sheila O'Reiley, who swam the race in 1:55.80.

Advertisement

In the 500 freestyle, Sweetser was challenged by Crimson freshman Jenny Meyer, but was able to out-touch her at the final wall for the victory in 5:10.92. Meyer's time of 5:11.35 was good for second place and a 1-2 Crimson finish in the race.

Meyer also had a good meet, winning two races in addition to her second in the 500. The New Jersey native claimed first place in both the 200-yd. butterfly and the 200 individual medley.

Freshman Mia Costello was another big winner for the Crimson, emerging victorious three of the four times she entered the water. Costello swept the breaststokes with first-place finishes in the 100 and 200.

Costello also swam the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay, combining with Kaari Reierson, Mary Quinn and Linda Suhs for a winning time of 1:50.31. In the 400 freestyle relay, Costello, Nina Anderson, Molly Clark and Lani Nelson earned second place for the Crimson with a time of 3:45.17.

Besides her win in the medley relay, Reierson was impressive on her own, winning the 200-yd. backstroke and getting second in the 100 backstroke.

Diving has almost become a given for Harvard, with most of the competition lately arising between Crimson sophomores Jenny Greene and Lisa Pierce. On Saturday, Greene kept her unbeaten string alive with victories on both the 1 and 3-meter boards, and has now won eight consecutive competitions.

Pierce, meanwhile, took the second-place award on both boards, the seventh time this year that Greene and Pierce have finished 1-2.

Sybil Smith provided most of B.U.'s scoring punch, taking two individual firsts and sharing in a relay victory as well. Smith pulled the double in the sprint freestyles, finishing on top in both the 50 and 100 freestyle races.

Next Stop, San Juan

The next destination for the Crimson is San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the squad will train for 10 days following Christmas. The goal of the trip is to get the team in the right physical and mental shape to defend its Ivy League title.

The women swimmers will return their tanned bodies to Cambridge in time for a January 10 battle at Blodgett Pool with Dartmouth, a meet that should set the team on its winning ways for the rest of the season.

Recommended Articles

Advertisement