NEW HAVEN, Conn. – After a weekend off competition during Thanksgiving Break, the Yale women's swimming and diving team returns to action this Friday for the first day of the three-day Princeton Invitational. The Bulldogs will travel to Princeton, N.J., for their final meet of the fall semester.
The Invitational will serve as a great test of early season speed against Ivy competition, as Yale will face Brown, Dartmouth and host Princeton, as well as Rider and Villanova. The three-day format is similar to that of the Ivy League and NCAA Championships and will offer the young team valuable experience competing in a longer meet.
The Bulldogs delivered a strong performance in their last meet, against Bridgeport on Nov. 22, defeating the Purple Knights 100-79. They went 1-2-3 in the 200-meter freestyle, with freshman Olivia Jameson finishing first, sophomore Eva Fabian in second and junior Rebecca DeLaFuente in third. This was one of a number of event wins for Yale freshmen on the day, as MacKenzie Franklin won the 50-meter freestyle, Isla Hutchinson-Maddox won the 100-meter butterfly, Anna Wujciak was victorious in the 100-meter freestyle and Kina Zhou finished first in the 200-meter individual medley.
The meet is scheduled with preliminaries in the mornings and finals in the afternoons of all three days. Friday will feature the 200-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard IM, 50-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay. Saturday's action includes the 200-yard medley relay, 400-yard IM, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 100-yard backstroke and 800-yard freestyle relay as well as the one-meter diving competition. The meet concludes on Sunday with the 1650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard freestyle relay as well as the three-meter diving.
As the final meet before a month-long break from competition, the Invitational offers Yale's swimmers and divers a chance to measure themselves against quality Ivy competition prior to the dual-meet season.
Report filed by Lyon Van Voorhis '15, Yale Sports Publicity