The women's squad (2-8, 1-6 Ivy) completed an impressive non-conference victory over Northeastern on Saturday, and both the men's and women's squads showed their individual strengths with encouraging performances against powerhouse Princeton on Sunday.
In Boston on Saturday, the women's team swim played to a virtual tie that was finally broken on the meet's final event. Lizzy Rippe '07, Mariah Cunnick '06, Heather Jankins '09 and Liz Mancuso '08 banded together to win the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The event tipped the scales in favor of the Big Green, as the team defeated Northeastern 124-119. Other important performances for Dartmouth came from Kate Brodie '06 and Melissa Kern '07, each of whom claimed two event titles in the meet.
For the Big Green, the meet's most lucrative event was the 500-yard freestyle. Kern took first place with Katie Morrison '09 and Nicole Zarba '06 right behind to complete a Dartmouth sweep of the event.
"Beating Northeastern, which we haven't done in years, is definitely a testament to our hard work and versatility as a team," Cunnick said.
On Sunday, the Big Green fell a few swimmers short against Princeton, whose men's and women's teams have reeled off a perfect 7-0 Ivy League/EISL record combined. The Tigers outscored the Big Green women's team by a total of 171-146, and the men's squad by a final tally of 144.5-92.5.
The undisputed highlights of the meet for both the Dartmouth men (0-8, 0-8 EISL) and women were the diving competitions. "Princeton typically has the best divers in the league year after year, and Kate Brodie ['06] took down all four," Cary Telander '06 said.
Brodie out-dove the competition on both the one-meter and the three-meter competitions. On the men's side, Andrew Berry '08 swept his diving events as well.
In addition to their diving success, the women's group won three swimming events. Liz Mancuso won the 100-yard individual medley event with a time of 1:05.56 and the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.46. Rippe captured the 50-yard butterfly, clocking-in at 26.80 seconds.
The men's swimmers matched the women's three victories, receiving contributions from their captain and two freshmen. Kemper Diehl '06 won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.98 seconds. Andrew Ballantine '09 held off his opponents on the final lap to complete a gritty performance in the 400-yard IM, finishing with a time of 4:15.13. Kevin Ellis '09 claimed the 200-yard freestyle in 1:44.03.
With the losses to Princeton, Dartmouth's swimming and diving program wrapped up its Ivy League schedule. The men's team will carry an EISL record of 0-8 into the EISL/Ivy League Championships, while the women completed their Ivy season at a 1-6 mark. The Ivy League Championships are scheduled to take place in Cambridge, Mass. on Feb. 23-25.
Despite struggling mightily against league competition during the regular season, the teams carry high hopes into the championship event.
"We're going to try to climb out of the cellar and pick off a couple of teams, especially Penn and Brown," said men's head coach Jim Wilson. "It's an uphill struggle for us though."
With the men's team last in the EISL standings and the women hardly faring better, one thing seems certain for the Big Green. "There's nowhere for us to go but up," said Cunnick.
