Ivy League Women’s Championships: Eleanor Sun Leads Princeton to Dominant Win
The Princeton Tigers hosted the Ivy League Women’s Championships this week and secured a team title, scoring 1479 points to out-pace Harvard by more than 200 points. Princeton finished with 1479 points, with Harvard taking second (1287.5) and Yale placing third (1090.5).
Princeton set the tone by winning the 800 freestyle relay Wednesday evening. Jenna Walters, Sabrina Johnston, Eleanor Sun and Heidi Smithwick combined for a time of 7:03.47 to win by more than six seconds over Brown (7:09.54) and Penn (7:09.66). The next day, Sun was the winner of the 200 IM, recording a time of 1:55.50 while teammates Dakota Tucker (1:57.76) and Eliza Brown (1:59.25) completed the Tigers sweep. Princeton went 1-2 in the next event as well, with Johnston winning the 50 free in 22.30 and Ela Noble touching out Harvard’s Anya Mostek for second, 22.43 to 22.45.
In diving, Princeton’s Charlotte Martinkus claimed the win with 302.35 points, ahead of Harvard’s Elizabeth Miclau (288.25) and Yale’s Hayden Henderson (284.35). The Tigers then concluded the Thursday’s session with a conference record in the 200 free relay. The team of Johnston, Noble, Veronique Rossouw and Smithwick clocked 1:28.22, taking six tenths of a mark set in 2023 by a team also including Johnston and Noble. Harvard (1:30.16) and Yale (1:31.20) finished well back.
Sun secured a second individual win in the 400 IM, clocking 4:06.22, and Tucker again took second (4:07.83) with Brown’s Sumner Chmielewski third (4:12.97). The Tigers went 1-3 in the 200 breast, with Tucker winning in 2:11.53 and Brown taking third in 2:12.79. Harvard’s Gabi Augustyn split the difference at 2:12.45. Sun concluded the individual program by topping the 200 fly in 1:54.64, with Smithwick coming in at 1:55.01 to secure a Tiger 1-2 finish. Harvard’s Sydney Lu placed third (1:57.64).
Martinkus won again on the 3-meter board with 336.10 points, followed by Mclau (308.35) and Princeton’s Maggie Squire (300.00). Finally, the team of Johnston, Noble, Rossouw and Sun won the 400 free relay in 3:14.84 by more than two seconds, followed by Brown (3:17.16) and Princeton (3:19.20).
The Crimson opened the met with a win in the 200 medley relay as the team of Mostek, Aleksandra Denisenko, Lu and Blythe Wieclawek posted a time of 1:36.83. Yale led through the first three legs, but Wieclawek came home in 22.03 to pull into first place and hold off a charging Noble, who split 21.58 as Princeton edged Yale for second, 1:37.14 to 1:37.19.
Alexandra Bastone won the 500 free by almost two-and-a-half seconds in 4:38.75, beating out Penn’s Anna Moehn (4:41.28) and Princeton’s Natalie Farquhar (4:45.93). Bastone doubled up with a 200 free win in 1:46.33, ahead of Moehn (1:46.86) and a tie for third between Walters and Harvard’s Molly Hamlin (1:46.91). Lu won the 100 butterfly in 52.04 followed by Smithwick (52.71) and Yale’s Alex Massey (52.82), and Denisenko claimed the 100 breaststroke title in 1:00.21 over Yale’s Jessey Li (1:00.49) and Columbia’s Ashley Hu (1:01.05).
Motek claimed first in the 100 backstroke, edging out Brown’s Jenna Reznicek (52.25) with Princeton’s Johnston third (52.80). The 100-yard winners combined to earn a commanding victory in the 400 medley relay, with Mostek, Denisenko, Lu and Mandy Brenner going 3:33.69 to beat out Princeton (3:35.64) and Yale (3:35.78).
Bastone finished off her swimmer-of-the-meet performance with a win in the 1650 freestyle, clocking 15:59.70. Moehn again finished second, touching in 16:05.92, with her Penn teammate Sydney Bergstrom third (16:07.96). Harvard then went 1-2 in the 200 back, with Molly Hamlin running down Mostek to take the win, 1:53.73 to 1:53.94, with Yale’s Mabel Koff third (1:54.79).
The first event to be won by a swimmer not from Princeton or Harvard was the 100 free, which went to Penn’s Kayla Fu by three hundredths over Johnston, 48.61 to 48.64. Columbia’s Emily Macdonald placed third (48.85).
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 20 1. Princeton University 1479 2. Harvard University 1287.5 3. Yale University 1090.5 4. Brown University 998.5 5. University of Pennsylvania 990.5 6. Columbia University 622 7. Dartmouth College Swimming 526 8. Cornell University 404
