The reaction of women's swimming head coach Susan Teeter was priceless.
As sophomore Jenny Macaulay powered into the wall, barely touching out her opponent for first in the 200-yard breaststroke and junior Kristen Szumera, positioned in Lane 1 with a seventh-place seeding, propelled herself miraculously to a third-place finish, the usually subdued and quiet Teeter couldn't hold herself back.
She raised her fists in exultation and let out a jubilant yell. With only three events left, one being three-meter diving where the Tigers had already qualified five of six divers for the final eight spots earlier that day, Teeter knew that her girls were going to do it.
Finally
The Princeton women's swimming and diving team will get to add 1999 to both of the banners hanging from DeNunzio Pool for the first time since 1995, as the Tigers completed their perfect season with a 47-point victory over arch nemesis Brown this weekend and finally added that elusive Ivy Championship to go with the dual meet title Princeton earned earlier this season.
"It's definitely a moment that we have seen Brown have for the past three years, and it is so gratifying to finally have it ourselves," senior captain Lindsay Grimm said.
"It was a great way to end a career."
While the weekend was filled with gutsy performances just like the finals of the 200 breaststroke, an essential part of the Tigers' victory was the incredible dominance of the women's diving team. In total, it accounted for 149 of Princeton's points for the meet by qualifying five of its six divers in the final eight in both the three and one-meter diving.
'Best performance ever'
"This was the best performance ever at this meet by any of the teams that I ever had," diving head coach Greg Gunn said. "In a competition like this, you can't expect things like this to happen but they did. I couldn't have asked for more."
The divers were led by sophomore Katherine Mattison, who was the outstanding high point diver for the meet. Mattison finished first in the one-meter with a score of 403.50 and fourth in the three-meter event. Junior Erin Lutz dominated the three-meter, winning the event by over 70 points and earning a new pool record. Complemented by the consistency of the likes of sophomore Danielle Stramandi - who finished an impressive second place in the one-meter - freshman Kristy Wilson and senior Page Pearcy, the Tigers' diving squad proved itself once again to be the best squad in the Ivy League.
"That is why this is the Princeton women's swimming and diving team," senior captain Alyson Goodner said.
The turning point for the Tigers this weekend, however, was the second day of competition. After Princeton had catapulted to the top after the first day - behind the 73 diving points from the one-meter event - the Tigers witnessed a flurry of impressive swims that held off the surging Bears and Harvard, never letting them take the lead once.
The 200 medley relay set the tone for that crucial second day. The Princeton team of sophomore Kate Conroy, freshmen Chrissy Holland and Molly Seto and senior Yen Tay touched out the Brown team for first place and achieved both the meet and school record with a time of 1 minute, 44.42 seconds.
After that, the gutsy swims came one after another. Macaulay finished with a near personal best and a second-place finish in the 400 individual medley. Conroy, in customary fashion, won the 100 back stroke in 56.66 and Holland defeated senior Harvard favorites Corie Calfee and Alexis Todor with an incredible swim of 1:04.70 in the 100 breast.
"She had the biggest look of astonishment with her hand over her mouth when she finished her race," Macaulay said. "Everyone [like Holland] was just putting their heads down, getting their hands on the wall all weekend and finishing just great. It was thrilling."
But it was Teeter's exultation after the 200 breast that Goodner will always remember. After three years of finishing second-best, Goodner knew, at that moment, that Princeton would not be denied.
"Teeter usually has such a poker face at a meet and to see her outburst, you know that something was very right," she said.
And then, three events later, the win became official and a swarm of orange and black jumped in the water from all directions. While the rest of the team was yelling and splashing about, all Goodner and the rest of seniors could do was 'soak in the moment' and reflect on winning their first Ivy Championship.
The water had never been so inviting.
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