The Dartmouth women's swimming team faced the Ivy League's best team Saturday in an effort to win their record eighth meet this season.
The two team's established eight new pool records but the Big Green fell 203-97 losing only their second meet of the season and bringing their record to 7-2, 4-2 in the Ivies.
The 200 medley relay team of Cory Murphy '95, Andrea Hill '97, Karyn Bysshe '96 and Deb Whitney '96 opened the meet. For the first time this season, that team finished second as Princeton broke the pool record by four-tenths of a second.
Princeton then swept the 400 I.M. Sophomore Emilie Ellis's placed fourth in 4:39.30. In the 200 freestyle, Whitney swam a powerful second half, pulling into second. But Princeton's Grace Cornealius set the first of her three pool records, beating Whitney's time of 1:55.46 by three seconds.
The next race was the 100 backstroke. Murphy lead the Big Green, breaking her own pool record to win in 58.42, a second and a half in front of the nearest Princeton swimmer.
The 100 breaststroke was up next. Hill swam a strong race finishing in 1:06.80, but again Princeton broke the pool record to win.
The 200 butterfly was far closer. Going into the last 50, Catherine Sterling '98 was in third place two body lengths behind the leader.
Coming off the last wall, Sterling had closed to second, still two bodies lengths off the pace. In an impressive effort Sterling fought her way back over the last 25 yards, missing victory by only .05 seconds. Teammates Bysshe and Amy Schneeberger '97 took third and fourth.
In the 50 freestyle, Liz Rehrmann '98 posted a season beast time, breaking the 25 second barrier. Her 24.97 was good enough to best almost anyone in the league, except Princeton's Cornealius who broke another pool record to finish in 24.23. That gave Princeton a 89-42 lead going into the first diving competition.
On the one meter board, Dartmouth looked to Allison Ruff '95. Ruff dove well, but finished second with 265.025 points. On the three meter board Ruff sought her revenge. Upping her concentration level, she scored 258.225 points, beating Princeton's top diver by less than three tenths of a point.
"I think that for the people who were here today, they had a chance to see one of the better collegiate duels," Diving Coach Ron Keenhold said. "The depth was there for both teams. I think that it was a good challenge for our divers. It was the first time they went up against a team with four good divers and I was happy with the way our divers performed."
After the first diving break, Princeton's Cornealius returned to swim the 100 freestyle. This time, she was challenged by Rehrmann and Whitney. Whitney swam another strong race, but finished second in 53.79.
But the next event was the 200 backstroke, Murphy's specialty. Murphy destroyed the field as she set her second pool record, winning in 2:05.99. The nearest Princeton swimmer finished three seconds behind Murphy.
Hill swam the 200 breaststroke. In the closest race of the meet, Hill struggled with Princeton's Seto, exchanging the lead with every stroke. But luck finished on Princeton's side as Hill finished in 2:21.28, .09 seconds behind.
The final event of the day was the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Murphy, Bysshe, Rehrmann and Whitney was gunning for the pool record of 3:40.5. Murphy's opening leg gave Dartmouth lead. Bysshe then fell into second place, but Whitney brought the team home in 3:39.48. Unfortunately, the time was only good enough for second, behind Princeton's 3:38.49.
"There were a lot of good efforts. Catherine Sterling gave a good effort," Coach Betsy Wilson said. "Murphy and Ally Ruff also gave strong efforts as always. I felt good about the meet. Good officiating."
The Big Green's next meet is Saturday against Army at 3:30 p.m. at the Karl B. Michael Pool. They will be looking to break their losing streak and to win their record setting eighth meet of the season.
