ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell women's swimming and diving team celebrated its eight seniors with a good showing in the water, scoring four individual wins and podium finishes in all sixteen events in a 185-115 loss against Ivy League foe Brown on Friday night from Teagle Pool.
Cornell's highlight win on the evening came from Kate Li, as the sophomore knocked off the previous pool record of 1:48.86 with a final time of 1:48.81 to earn gold in the 200-Freestyle. Teammate Jungmin Yoon also put in a strong effort in the event, climbing from fifth after the first 50 yards to grab bronze by almost a second over fourth-place Maria Iorini of Brown. The underclassmen theme carried over in the 200-IM, as freshman Katherine Yee nabbed the top spot with a 2:03.26.
Switching back over to the upperclassmen, senior Marie Williams had an outstanding performance in her final home meet for the Big Red, leading from wire-to-wire to earn gold in the 200-Backstroke (2:00.89) before following that up with a runner-up finish in the 100-Backstroke as part of a silver and bronze sweep with teammate Ming Xu, who were separated by 0.39 seconds in the final leaderboard. Cornell's fourth and final win on the evening came from the diving board, as freshman Brooke Andrews earned first place in the 3-Meter dive with 307.20 points. Teammate and fellow freshman Morgan Ogata earned a podium in the event by finishing third with 251.33 points.
Despite just those four victories, many Cornell swimmers swam strong in the team's last home dual of the 2023-24 season. Senior Priscilla Wongso continued her excellent season on East Hill by earning second-place finishes in the 50 (22.83) and 100-Freestyle (50.56) events. Wongso's 50-yard time was also just 0.01 seconds off her record-breaking time set at the 2023 Zippy Invitational. Anna Gruvberger (53.97) and Emile Boisrenoult (54.53) also put together a strong swim in the 100-Butterfly, as the senior combo earned silver and bronze. Amy Wu rounded out the top finishers for the senior class, as the California native earned bronze in the 200-Breaststroke with a final time of 2:19.51.
Finally, the Big Red relay teams also put together good shifts, as the quartet of Xu, Wu, Boisrenoult, and Wongso swam a combined 1:40.55 to grab second to open Friday's action in the 200-Medley. The combined time is also a school record, breaking the previous time of 1:40.62 set by Sophia Tsai, Audrey Holden, Boisrenoult, and Melissa Parker at last season's Ivy Championships. And to close out the meet, the senior four of Boisrenoult, Joelle Ohr, Gruvberger, and Wongso earned silver in the 400-Freestyle. Wongso had the best split as the anchor for the Big Red in the event, swimming a combined 49.83.
With Friday's result, Cornell finishes its regular season at 5-4 overall and 3-4 in conference play, securing consecutive seasons of five or more dual wins. That is the first time Cornell has achieved back-to-back performances of this variety since 2013-14 and 2014-15.
UP NEXT
Cornell will send athletes to Massachusetts for the Boston University Open hosted by the Terriers on Friday, Feb. 9 and Saturday, Feb. 10. Competition for Friday's session will begin at 6 p.m. while Saturday's session starts at noon.
