Ivy League Athletic Recruiting

If you’re a prospective swimmer at Princeton, be sure to go through their meet results. Scan those heat sheets! See how your times stack up. Also, check out the school records to see where you stand. It’s one of the benefits of timed sports — athletes can know just where they stand (photo credit: Andreas Praefcke).

Want an Ivy League athletic recruiting tip? Do your research. What do we mean? Well, let’s say that you’re a rising high school senior who hopes to swim in college. Specifically, you’d like to attend Princeton. You’re a backstroker who goes a 1:02 in the 100 back and a 2:12 for the 200 back. Alright, so we’ve got some data points. Let’s start researching!

At Princeton University, the all-time varsity record in the 100 backstroke is held by Lisa Boyce. She swam the event in 54.10 (quite a bit faster than 1:02). But just because the record-holder has a faster time than you doesn’t mean in itself that the Princeton coach wouldn’t be interested. That would be quite foolish. But we’re just trying to give you some benchmarks to better understand where you fit in. With a time of 56.52, Karen Wang has the tenth fastest time in Princeton’s history. It’s still a far cry from 1:02, but at least we’re getting closer. In the 200 back, the all-time record is held by Meredith Monroe with a time of 1:55.58. Ming Ong went the tenth fastest time in Princeton’s history with a time of 2:03.02. So you’re nine seconds slower in the 200 than the tenth fastest swimmer in Princeton’s history.

Alright, but that’s just the fastest times in Princeton women’s swimming history. For the really great information, it’s important to check out the schedule / results. Under the results, you can see how your times compare to other Princeton swimmers in actual meets. You should literally be going through the heat sheets! We dove through a few meet results and after reviewing seed times and results of Princeton women’s swimmers, a 1:02 isn’t that far off the pace. But it’s not good enough to warrant getting recruited.

In a few meets, Princeton’s slowest 100 backstroker went a 1:01. In the 200 back in the few heat sheets we scanned through, Princeton’s slowest female swam a 2:10…so you’re definitely not that far off the pace. Again, not good enough to get recruited but, if you improve your times a little, you might be able to hold your own on the team.

Was this helpful as you begin to think about the Ivy League athletic recruiting process? Let us know your thoughts and ask your questions about Ivy League athletics here!