Women’s Swimming & Diving Sets Two School Records, Finishes Fourth on Final Day of Ivy League Championships

Saturday, February 23

Princeton, NJ

All Day

Brown University

Ivy League Championships

Women’s Swimming & Diving Sets Two School Records, Finishes Fourth on Final Day of Ivy League Championships

2/23/2019 10:01:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving

Results

Complete Ivy League Championships Results

PRINCETON, N.J. – The Brown women's swimming & diving team broke two school records and finished fourth on the final day of the Ivy League Championships on Saturday night at DeNunzio Pool. Junior Sarah Welch (Beverly, Mass.) and freshman Andrea Wei (Hopkinton, Mass.) set the program marks in the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly, respectively. It's the third school record for Wei, who also broke the 100 butterfly mark on Friday and was on the 400 medley relay team that set a program-best time.

The Bears finished the championships in fourth with 937.50 points, their best finish since 2005, while Harvard took first with 1,500 points.

"This team has taken a lot of little steps in the last five years with Ivy Champions and school records, but this year's fourth place team finish was probably the most important step we've taken since I've been at Brown," said head coach Kate Kovenock. "It's a sign of what's to come for the program. It's also an accomplishment that the entire 2018-19 team shares. Our 20 person Ivy team was the crew that got it done, but our entire team made it possible with the work they put in and their belief in Brown swimming & diving's potential to be truly excellent."

Junior Julia Armitage (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) led Brown in the 1650 freestyle to begin the night, finishing in 17:01.56 for 14th. Freshman Emma Whall (Dover, N.H.) also competed in the event, placing 16th in 17:11.56.

Welch had a strong showing in the 200 backstroke, taking second in the A-Final with a school-record time of 1:57.62, breaking her own mark set last year. Junior Amelia Gilchrist (Greensboro, N.C.) touched in at third in the B-Final of the event with a time of 1:59.72. Senior Jackie Karpowicz (Wakefield, R.I.) rounded out the finishes for the Bears in eighth of the C-Final (2:04.94).

Four Brown swimmers competed in the B-Final of the 100 freestyle, with sophomore Taylor Seaman (Brighton, Mich.) winning the event in 49.33 while senior Maddie Salesky (San Rafael, Calif.) (50.26) and junior Marley Cross (Seattle, Wash.) (50.55) went 3-4 and senior Tatiana Prendella (Bernardsville, N.J.) took seventh (50.86). Senior Emma Wittmer (Edina, Minn.) also won the C-Final in 50.48.

Freshman Audrey Lukawski (San Francisco, Calif.) took seventh in the 200 breaststroke A-Final in 2:15.31. A second place finish was also turned in by freshman Miku Takabayashi (Glastonbury, Conn.) in the C-Final (2:20.21).

Wei won the B-Final of the 200 butterfly with a program record 1:58.41. Freshman Caylene Rippon (Hershey, Pa.) made the A-Final of the event and claimed seventh (2:00.25). Wittmer posted her second win of the day in the C-Final with a time of 2:02.74.

On the boards, sophomore Julia Feord (Royal Oak, Mich.) came in 14th in the 3-meter with a total score of 244.80.

To close the championships, a 400 freestyle relay team of Seaman, Salesky, Prendella and Cross finished third with a time of 3:18.80.