Davis Zong, Contributing Photographer

The Yale women’s swim and dive team scored back-to-back victories against the University of Miami (155-139) and Brown (160-140) at the Kiphuth Exhibition Pool last weekend. Despite less than a day’s rest between Friday afternoon’s meet against Miami and Saturday morning’s Brown meet, many team members won several events on both days. 

As the first scored meets of the season, teams were awarded points for strong finishes in each event: around nine to 11 points for first, four points for runner-up, and zero to three points for later places. 

The 200-meter medley relay team of Devyn Sargent ’28, Jessey Li ’26, Alex Massey ’25 and Sara Plunkett ’27 captured first in the event on both days, with times of 1:40.42 against Miami and 1:40.45 against Brown. The breaststroke events were all swept by Li, who edged out the runner-up by more than two seconds in three of the four swims. 

“Our practices the past couple of weeks have been some of the most intense practices. Racing tired builds that aerobic capacity and teaches us to be mentally tough,” Li told the News. 

In the Miami meet, Miami’s divers did not attend, so the diving event was all Bulldogs. Even without direct competition, the Elis still put up a commanding performance, with Mariana Huang ’28 scoring 290.10 to win the 1-meter board and Grace Wu ’28 breaking the 300-point mark to take the 3-meter board event with 303.45. 

Although the 500-meter and 1000-meter freestyle events went to Miami, backstroke was all Yale. Mabel Koff ’28 and Sargent took the top two spots in both the 100-meter and 200-meter back events, with times of 55.40 and 1:58.82 respectively. Sargent also emerged victorious in the 200-meter IM event by pulling ahead in the backstroke and breaststroke portions and finishing with 2:04.54. 

As team members often arrive at the pool more than two hours before the meet, they had just an evening off and one night’s sleep to rest after the Miami 4 p.m. meet before Brown’s 11 a.m. meet the next day. While ice bathing and yoga stretching are common recovery strategies, breaststroke and freestyle swimmer Charlize Escasa ’27 uses foam rolling, a cooldown technique to release tension caused by lactic acid buildup. 

“It’s important to be vigilant on recovering between sessions, getting as much sleep as possible, cooling down between events, removing the lactic acid; it gets you more prepared for the next one,” said Escasa. 

The meet against Brown on Saturday served as the Ivy opener, and the Bulldogs not only continued their now 5-0 streak against Brown but also won with a greater margin of 160-140 compared to last year’s 151-149. 

Many team members pointed to the familiarity of the pool and the energetic home atmosphere as strong catalysts for their performance. 

“We always put an emphasis on putting in energy and being the loudest team on deck. Being at home, there’s a different type of energy and fun that we all have being there,” said team captain Quinn Murphy ’25. 

The diving team prevailed in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, with Hayden Henderson ’25 (307.73), Lily Horenkamp ’26 (289.80) and Wu (276.45) sweeping the top three spots in the 3m and Henderson also clinching first in the 1-meter with 296.03 points. 

As home meets occur right in the Kiphuth Pool of the Payne Whitney Gymnasium, the Yale side of the stands was full of enthusiastic supporters, including many members of the men’s swimming team, who orchestrated different chants during every race to cheer on the Bulldogs. 

“The crowd was amazing. The men’s team was in the stands; they were very loud and engaged in the racing, so it’s always nice to have them there. It was nice seeing familiar faces in the stands that you can rely on,” Escasa said. 

In swimming, the Elis also put up a dominant performance, winning several of the same events as the day before and more. To start off strong, Morgan Cady ’28 took the first individual swimming event of the meet, clocking in at 10:15.35 in the 1000-meter freestyle. 

In addition to winning the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke, Li also touched the wall first in the 50 freestyle (23.34), making her a part of four first-place finishes in the meet. Koff continued her winning streak in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:58.29. 

“There’s this sense, when you’re in the pool, you’re racing with the Yale Y on your cap. That’s our Y, why we’re doing this is the Y on our cap. It’s a big motivation when you’re racing for something bigger than yourself,” said Li. 

The women’s swim and dive team will have their next meet on Nov. 15 against Columbia in New York.