Penn women’s swimming and diving entered Ivy League championships ready to build on a historic regular season. Their performances rewrote the program record book as the Quakers dominated the competition, earning the highest finish in program history.
Senior diver Sadie Howard showed up when it mattered most, obliterating the competition by over ten points to take the program’s first three-meter diving title. Last year, Howard placed 15th overall in the three-meter platform dive.
“After Sadie won [the] 3m [platform dive], we all started to cry not only because of how proud we were of her for winning, but because we knew at that moment as long as the relay didn’t get DQ’d (disqualified), we got second place,” senior distance freestyle specialist Sydney Bergstrom wrote in a statement to the Daily Pennsylvanian.
Bergstrom similarly stunned on the deck, earning her first Ivy League title in the mile in a personal-best 16:02.63. With her victory, Bergstrom automatically clinched her second berth to NCAA Division I Championships due to a new qualifying system.
“Overall, I was really pleased with the swim and glad to have scored the maximum amount of points that I could in that event to contribute to our hunt for second place!” Bergstrom wrote of her victory.
The Swarthmore, Pa. native also swam under the national qualifying standard in the 500 freestyle for the bronze in a new personal record.
In addition to two First Team All-Ivy selections, six Quakers were named to the All-Ivy Second Team. Senior captain and distance freestyle specialist Anna Moehn earned a pair of All-Ivy nods with runner-up finishes in the 500 and 1650 freestyle. Moehn looks to secure her third berth to NCAAs, and the odds are in her favor since she swam well under the national qualifying standard in the long-distance events.
Sophomore free/breaststrike specialist Amy Qin notched the program record and a conference lead in the 100 back preliminary rounds. Although Qin finished second behind defending Ivy Champion and conference record holder Anya Mostek of Harvard, she tied the previous pool record and lowered the program record with a scorching 52.15 finish.
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“Going under the standard in [the] 100 back was very pleasant to see,” Qin wrote. “Having the possibility of swimming NCAAs in March is definitely an exciting moment, but it also reaffirms the excellent swim program that Penn has to offer.”
NCAAs are on the table for Qin as well, as the sophomore swam under the national qualifying standard in both the preliminary and final rounds of the 100 yard back competition.
Junior butterfly/backstroke specialist Kate Levensten improved on her regular season heroics with a second-place finish in the 200 backstroke. Levensten, who is also a former DP staffer, swam an all-time career-best just under the national qualifying standard to score the silver.
Junior breaststroke specialist Kate Handley rounded out the individual All-Ivy honorees with a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke. Handley finished eighth in the event in 2025.
The Weston, Mass. native also swam the breaststroke leg on the Quakers’ runner-up 400 medley relay. Qin opened with the backstroke leg, touching second before handing off to Handley. Handley was barely out-touched by 100- and 200-breaststroke champion Jessey Li of Yale, but a quick fly leg from sophomore Margaret Hu brought the Quakers back in contention for the crown. Program standout sophomore Kayla Fu anchored the relay, splitting 48.39 to take the silver.
Fu, who won the 2025 Ivy League title in the 100 freestyle, also earned the bronze in the 100 butterfly after getting out-touched by Princeton senior Heidi Smithwick. Freshman backstroke/butterfly specialist Brianna Cong finished just behind Fu in a career-best 53.22.
Although she didn’t earn All-Ivy honors, the Quakers have another likely contender at NCAAs in junior individual medley phenom Katya Eruslanova. Eruslanova earned her first points on the board with a third-place finish in the 200 IM, lowering her program record by two tenths of a second. Eruslanova won the ECAC title and the Ivy League consolation final of the 200 IM last season.
The Havertown, Pa. native had her strongest performance of the night in the 400 IM, where a strong freestyle leg propelled Eruslanova just under the national qualifying standard in a fourth-place finish. The 400 IM finals featured a particularly deep field with back-to-back defending champion Eleanor Sun of Princeton breaking the Ivy meet record for the win.
Howard and fellow divers will be competing at Zone A Championships over spring break for a chance to qualify for nationals. Although Bergstrom automatically qualified for NCAAs at the end of the month, the official field, which may include other Quakers, will be announced later this week.
“That night displayed our year’s worth of teamwork, grit, and humility,” Qin wrote. “Even reflecting on it right now still feels so surreal, [it] almost feels like the whole week was just a dream!”
“I genuinely could not be more proud of everything PWSD has accomplished this year and how everyone was always willing to do whatever was best for the team,” Bergstrom wrote about her final Ivy League Championship meet. “I made the greatest decision of my life coming to this school and choosing to be on this team.”
