W. Swim Finishes Fifth At Ivy Championships

After three days of intense competition, the Columbia women’s swimming and diving team placed fifth behind Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Penn on Saturday at the 2009 Ivy League Championships. With a final score of 916, the Lions finished 667.5 points behind first-place Harvard.

The Lions started off the meet on Thursday on what they thought was the right foot in the preliminaries for the 200-yard free relay. The team of Delghir Urubshurow, Christina Hughes, Allison Hobbs, and Hannah Galey would later find out, however, that their second-place, school-record-breaking time of 1:33.76 was disqualified for an early start, along with first-place Princeton’s.

Despite the disappointing turn of events, which was announced the following day, the first day of competition did hold some promising highlights. Among important day-one contributors were Mariele Dunn and Hobbs, who finished fourth in the 200-yard individual medley and the 50-yard free, respectively. In addition, diver Shannon Hosey was impressive during the one-meter dive, placing second behind Princeton’s Katie Giarra, who scored 60 points in her final attempt.

In fifth place after day one and only 3.5 points behind Penn, the Light Blue attempted a comeback on the second day of competition in the first event—the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Lauren Fraley, Dunn, Hobbs, and Galey touched the wall second in a combined time of 1:42.06, earning the group second-team All-Ivy honors and breaking the school record of 1:42.60.

The Lions saw success in individual events as well, including an outstanding performance by Hobbs in the 100-yard butterfly. Hobbs finished first in the preliminaries with a time of 55.39, breaking her own record, and then bested her performance in the finals, touching the wall first and setting a new school record of 54.92. She picked up her first individual Ivy League championship title for her finish in the event in addition to earning first-team All-Ivy honors.

To cap off the second day, Fraley, Dunn, Hobbs, and Galey captured second in the 400-yard medley relay in a combined time of 3:41.23, setting a new school record. But despite the team’s efforts, the Lions remained in fifth, trailing even further back of Penn than they’d started the day.

The Light Blue continued to display its talent on day three, with three Lions qualifying for the final heat in the 200-yard backstroke. Fraley, who finished second in the final, earned second-team All-Ivy honors and set a new school record at 1:59.55. Urubshurow, who held the previous record, also qualified for the final along with freshman Caitlin Rogers, picking up fourth and eighth, respectively.

Dunn, facing stiff competition in the 100-yard breaststroke, picked up second in the event, capturing second-team All-Ivy honors and an NCAA ‘B’-cut qualifying time in 2:13.99. Her time also broke a school record that had lasted for over a decade.

The highlight for Galey, however, had to be earning her first career individual Ivy League title for the 100-yard freestyle. Galey, who picked up first-team All-Ivy honors, not only came in first in the preliminaries with a time of 50.19 but also broke her own school record of 49.87, which she set last season, coming in at 49.78 in the final.

Despite earning 305.15 points, Hosey was unable to defend her title in the three-meter dive, placing second behind Giarra, who took the title with 332.35 points.

Although disappointing when compared to last year’s third-place finish, the Lions’ finish this year cannot detract from the successful season they had in the pool and the eight school records that fell this weekend.