Penn State women's swimming and diving traveled to Providence, Rhode Island from February 21-24 to compete in the Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships.
At the Ivy League Championships, Penn women's swimming and diving proved that they have a meet record of 1-6 or better. The team left Providence, Rhode Island with a fifth-place team finish, two Ivy titles from senior distance freestyler Anna Karandadze, and three new program records.
On the second day of the Ibis, it was clear that the long-distance group of Carandadze and the Quakers would win.
Historically, Penn has dominated long distance freestyle events. In 2022, graduating NCAA champion Leah Thomas, three-time NCAA qualifier Katherine Broker and Karandadze were selected to top the distance freestyle group. In 2023, the group evolved to feature Karandadze, Broker, and Anna Mohn, now a sophomore freestyler and individual medley specialist. They each finished 1-2-3 in the 2023 Ibis 500-yard freestyle. The trend continues this year, with Karandadze and Maine continuing to lead the way.
In the 500 free, Karandadze did the typical Karandadze thing. The Ardmore, Pennsylvania native defended her 2023 title by first touching the wall with an NCAA A cut time of 4:37.21. Mone held on for the final 50 yards to take second, completing the Quakers' one-two punch.
“Anna Karandadze is a mad dog every day. She works hard, loves to swim and is not afraid. And she is a person who is very confident in herself and knows how good she is. ,” coach Mike Schnurr said. “She knows she's one of the best in the country, and she has her work ethic to back it up, which has helped her succeed.”
In the 1650 free, Karandadze again impressed. In a Katie Ledecky fashion, the two-time NCAA qualifier finished more than 18 seconds faster than second place to claim the gold medal while claiming the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center pool record. Obtained. Mohn and sophomore freestyler Sydney Bergstrom returned to the top of the scoreboard along with Karandadze this year, taking second and fourth place, respectively. Last year, the long-distance group trio similarly dominated the podium with a 1-2-3.
“We were talking earlier in the preparation room. [the 1650]and we [were] I said, “This is Pen Heat.” We run the show. Alright, let's go. ' […] We train with the same girls every day and we end up racing against them at the end of the day, so it's really reassuring to have the distance group together until the very end,” Mohn said. spoke of a staunch Quaker. long distance group.
Notably, Mohn also placed third in the 200 free, becoming Penn's only representative in that A final. This event makes sense for a lineup of long-distance freestylers, but her success in medaling in all three is impressive, especially since her 200 free is an interesting combination of sprinting and long-distance swimming. .
Karandadze is in a similar situation. The inclusion of the 400 individual medley in her lineup may raise some eyebrows, but Karandadze is competitive in this event. The Ardmore, Pennsylvania, native won bronze in this event last year, and she proved it again this year. With a surprisingly strong breaststroke, the 2022-23 Daily Penn State Female Athlete of the Year broke the program record in the 400 IM, and she finished fifth in the hardware.
Karandadze wasn't the only one setting records. A four-time Ivy A finalist, junior breaststroker Izzy Pytel has historically been a regular in the A finals in the breaststroke event, with the past two Ivys having seen her finish fourth in both events. was between 6th place. Although this year's competitive field eliminated Pytel from her A final in the 200 breast, Pytel still placed eighth in her 100 breast and her time of 1:01.28 was a new program record. I recorded it and took the hardware home. The field was also very competitive, with the difference between 3rd place and her 8th place being just 0.20 seconds.
In addition, versatile freshman freestyle/backstroke/IM specialist Katya Erslanova twice broke her 200 IM program record, set in December 2023. The first time was during the morning qualifying and the other time was during the B final victory. In fact, Elslanova won her B finals in all individual events with faster times than some of the athletes in the A finals. This tells us that although her final performance was strong, she was weak in the preliminaries.
“Katia had a great meet. She is the second fastest 400 IMer [in program history] and currently the second fastest 200 IMer [in program history]. She's not a good morning swimmer yet so we'll have to improve as she grows, but her night swim was great,” Schnurr said.
At the end of the competition, the Quakers finished in fifth place with 865.5 points, up from sixth place last year, thanks to strong freshman and long-distance veteran talent. The home team, Brown, finished just ahead in fourth place. Defending champion Princeton took home the title, with Harvard University and Yale University rounding out the top three.
Penn's women's swimming and diving season isn't over yet. This weekend, a group of swimmers and divers will leave for Annapolis, Maryland, for his ECAC Championships, and then Karandadze (and maybe some company) will head to Athens, Georgia for the NCAA Championships. .
