First Meet to Test the Water

When the Columbia men's swimming team opens its season with an away meet against Dartmouth on Saturday, head coach Jim Bolster will not be worried about the match's outcome. Instead of putting his top lineup against the Big Green, he will be giving freshmen an opportunity to show off their racing abilities as well as giving everyone a chance to swim events they might not be able to try later in the season, when every point counts.

Soon after its Dartmouth meet, Columbia has two formidable matchups that will be more important for a team looking to break a three-year streak of finishing in third place behind Harvard and Princeton.

"There are some big meets looming," Bolster said. "In two weeks we have Yale and the following week is Harvard. Those meets will be better barometers to see how we stack up against other teams in the league. But Dartmouth is a good meet for us to open up with. It will be a lot of fun to see where our freshmen are."

Columbia added 13 freshmen to the team for this 2006-07 season. The freshmen will have a tough time cracking the freestyle events, as the Lions have a powerful arsenal of freestyle swimmers, especially in the distance categories. Senior captain Tobin White, junior Henning Fog, senior Jake Abbott, and sophomore Mitch Newman have all proven themselves in the Ivy League.

In the backstroke, breaststroke, and especially the butterfly, there is more room for the freshmen to leave their mark. While senior Luke Fitzpatrick is returning this year, these events need more depth, and freshman Darren Pagan could be the solution to that problem. Pagan was successful in a wide range of events at Bishop O'Dowd High School in California.

Top senior breaststroker Mike Nelson and sophomores Zach Glassman and Avi Harari will be joined by freshmen Adam Bulkley, Ross Ramone, Jordan Kobb, and Eric Tang in the breaststroke events. Fly has the least depth of any stroke, so freshmen Gunnar Aasen, Gabe Schubiner, and Nick Barron will need to step up to help returning senior Brendan Murphy and three returning sophomores solidify that stroke.

Bolster explained that he already has a good sense of what the returning swimmers are capable of in race settings, so Dartmouth will be used to assess the new class and see how they've progressed since school started.

"The freshmen seem to be looking good, but it's important to see some sort of translation between hard work and racing," Bolster explained. "It will be exciting to see the freshmen swim and how they respond to their first meet as a Lion."

With the large freshman class adding to the already strong team of upperclassmen, Bolster is focused on the window of opportunity that is wide open for the team this season.

"First and foremost, we are focusing on continuing the direction of the progress we have made each other the past three years," Bolster said. "No one has come close to Princeton and Harvard in 34 years, and we would like to be the first team that ends that streak. That's in the forefront of our minds as we start the season."

Bolster sees this year as being a watershed time for the program, unlike any he has seen in his 22 years at Columbia. The opportunity to overtake the two historically dominant programs in the Ivy League is a realistic possibility for this year's squad.

"I feel like this year presents a wonderful opportunity for us," Bolster said. "We really hope to make it happen."