It’s often said that life imitates art. You see, the CMS vs. P-P meet did not start last Saturday in the pool, but when our P-P women swimmers, in preparation for their annual pre-CMS meet painting of Walker Wall, prepped a section of said wall with Sagehen blue, only to find it defaced by the likes of those classless jocks also known as the Athena swim team!

Back to life imitating art. So of course our S’women Sagehens rallied in the face of this diplomatic travesty (new slogan of CMS aquatics: almost as classy as the Ravens’ Secondary) and showed those evil Athenas that in the end they can’t ever come out on top, even in the pre-meet smack-talking painting competition.

As for the actual competition, conditions were less than ideal: Saturday’s weather was cold and bitter, much like the feelings many of our Sagehen women felt towards the CMS swim team, after an oh-so-close loss in last year’s meet held across the street at the Evil Empire.

The women’s team could still taste the paper-thin loss from the week before to Redlands. In other words, we were pumped and ready to bring the pain.

So let’s take stock of the scene as I witnessed it unfolding Saturday afternoon: our worthy Sagehen protagonists, thirsty for revenge; an easily demonized villain–wearing black, no less; then mix in lots of partial nudity, and a happy ending, and the P-P vs. CMS meet not only sounds like a pulpy novel, but really was exciting for all present.

Kate Bollinger ’01 got the Hens off to a great start with a convincing win in the mile, particularly impressive as the ultra-long event is outside her normal competition repertoire. Bollinger normally swims the Indicidual Medley and the 200m Butterfly, both of which she also scored points in, after having swum the mile.

Christen Parker, PI ’02 immediately followed this in the 200m Freestyle by beating SCIAC arch-nemesis Lauren Williams, the only event in which Williams had the guts to face P-P’s middle distance phenom, who also went on to post wins in the 500m and 100m freestyle. The latter event saw the Hens go 1-2-3 with help from sophomores Lucia Schmidt and Elizabeth Widmar. Widmar also came up huge elsewhere in the meet, winning the 50 freestyle and swimming the lead leg of the 400m free relay team.

Some other highlights included frosh Sarah "ask me about naked parka night" 111Kalhorn posting huge runner-up finishes for P-P in the 200m and 500m free–she also swam a stellar anchor leg for the 400m relay. Another Sagehen rookie, Lizzy Davis ’04 placed in the mile (not her standard event) and put up points in two other events with an impressive second in the 200m Fly. Aforementioned Schmidt also put up points with two more runner-up finishes in both the 200m IM and the 200m Breaststroke.

On the boards, Anne Baptiste PI ’02 lost a tight match on the one-meter board, taking second by barely two points, while also posting a fourth place on the 3-meter against the talented CMS diving squad. Tyler Elcano ’03 also scored for P-P diving as did Annie Lindberg ’03, competing in a leather, silk, and wool free suit to celebrate her recent conversion to veganism.

These performances set up an exciting, winner-take-all final event as CMS and P-P entered the 400m Freestyle relay in a dead heat. The Hens put forth our formidable team of Widmar, Jacquie Cole ’02, Janetta Iwanicki ’03, and first-year Kalhorn. The whole team gathered around the pool to cheer P-P’s finest in the decisive event of the meet.

Widmar and Cole pushed the pace and CMS held close, but Iwanicki opened up a slight gap to give Kalhorn some breathing room going into anchor. Kalhorn didn’t need it, as she looked like anything but a rookie as she not only held the lead, but widened it to give the Hens a 126-117 victory over the art-inept Athenas.