Last Friday, the women’s swimming and diving team won an important 162-138 victory in DeNunzio Pool against Villanova. This victory turned out to be of huge significance, as it would be the first home match for Princeton’s new head diving coach and two-time NCAA champion Drew Livingston, and the last for both head coach Susan Teeter — who announced her coming retirement in December — and the Class of 2017.
On Friday morning, in the first event between the Princeton Tigers (5-2, 4-1 Ivy) and the Villanova Wildcats (4-2), the foursome of senior Olivia Chan, freshman Gianna Garcia, junior Elsa Welshofer, and junior Madelyn Veith opened the meet with an exciting victory, claiming the 4x200m medley relay in 1:44.45.
After the opening, the Tigers displayed great form across the board, winning first and second place in various events. To mention a few, Chan won the 100m breast in 1:05.12 and sophomore Isabel Reis took a thrilling 500m freestyle in 4:58.09. Furthermore, the freshman duo of Elaine Zhou and Shaelyn Choi secured convincing wins in the 200m butterfly and the 200m breast, in 2:02.47 and 2:21.36 respectively.
Despite these results, however, by the end of the meet with only three events remaining, the visitors had managed to gain a two-point lead.
But the Tigers made sure to secure the crucial victory for both coach Teeter and the Class of 2017. In the first two of the remaining three events, senior Lisa Li and her classmate Yasmeen Almog won important victories on the 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards, with 283.20 and 267.30 points, respectively. Despite being his first home game with the Tigers, new head diving coach Drew Livingston and his divers displayed excellent form in both of the events.
And in the finally event of the meet, the Tigers — now in the lead — closed the day with style as senior Katherine Diller, freshman Lindsay Temple, Reis, and Veith took home the 200-free relay.
This marked a triumphant finish for the 17-time Ivy League title-winning coach Teeter, and a well-deserved 11th home dual-meet victory for the seniors. But although this was their last race in DeNunzio Pool, major challenges still await them in the remainder of the 2016-2017 season.
After returning from intersession break, the Tigers will take on rivals Harvard (5-0 Ivy) and Yale (5-0 Ivy) at a tri-meet in New Haven. Although these will not be easy matches, securing victories at the meet will be the first steps of preparing for a successful Ivy League Championship Feb. 16-18.