Women's Swimming Edges Out Defiant Brown, 157-143

In its fifth consecutive victory of the dual-meet season, Columbia’s women’s swimming and diving team edged out Brown, 157-143. With the close win, the Lions advanced to 8-1 (4-1 Ivy) while the Bears fell to 2-3 (2-3).

The Light Blue went up early in the meet, picking up the first two events. Senior Shannon Hosey gave the Lions the lead with a score of 273.68 in the three-meter dive, surpassing the second place diver by 37.72 points. Up early, the team of Lauren Fraley, Mariele Dunn, Allison Hobbs and Hannah Galey touched the wall first in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:45.79. Columbia also picked up second place in the event with a time of 1:49.35.

Widening the Lion’s lead, Fraley and Dunn picked up consecutive individual event wins in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively.

Despite Columbia’s early dominance, Brown began to rally, taking first in the 200-yard butterfly and 50-yard freestyle. During the diving break, Brown’s Katie Olko, Rebecca Tassell and Jessica Williams took revenge for their three-meter failure and swept the top three spots in the one-meter dive. With the 16 points earned during the dive, Brown closed the gap to three points and put the score at 86-83.

Seeing their lead slip away, the Lions powered ahead, picking up three individual events after the break. Following a Galey first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, Delghir Urubshurow touched the wall first in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:05.05. Dunn then picked up her second individual victory and third first-place finish for the meet, completing the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:05.12.

Up 120-106, the meet was still up for grabs, but a 1-3-4-5 finish in the 100-yard butterfly by Hobbs, Christina Hughes, Allie Davitt and Caitlin Rogers put the Lions ahead 140-124. With a first and fourth finish in the 200-yard individual medley, Urubshurow and Caitlin Bertelsen put the Light Blue safely out of the reach of the Bears and extended the Lions’ winning streak to five.

“The success of the season is due to many factors,” said head coach Diana Caskey via e-mail. “Strong senior leadership, a very tough work ethic, a large percentage of the team that loves racing and continued improvement of depth and talent are among those factors.”
Columbia will next face defending Ivy League champion Princeton in its final home meet of the year on Saturday, Feb. 7.