Lions to Aim for Third in EISL Championships Behind Princeton, Harvard

The Columbia men’s swimming and diving team will be competing in the Ivy League/Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League Championships this weekend at Princeton. The Lions will try to build on the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships by fighting for the top spot among the Ancient Eight.

The championships will showcase the highest caliber of swimming of the season, as each team is rested and prepared for the weekend’s competition. Princeton and Harvard have dominated the Ivy League/EISL Championships in the past couple years—the former won in 2007 with 1,406 points and the latter won in 2008 with 1,564 points. Columbia head coach Jim Bolster expects that these two teams will remain atop the Ivy standings.

“Princeton shapes up as the team to beat with Harvard not far behind,” Bolster wrote in an e-mail. “I believe there will be an interesting and very competitive battle for third between Columbia, Cornell, Penn, and Yale.” Columbia and Yale have battled for third place in the past two years, finishing within five points of each other in 2007 and within 11.5 points in 2008.

“I think the Lions are looking forward to the opportunity to race,” Bolster wrote. “We have had a solid dual meet season, but all along we have been looking forward to this meet. If everyone meets their expectations we should have a fun weekend and be witness to some exciting racing.”

Going into the championships, the Lions are ranked sixth in the Ivy League, ahead of Brown and Dartmouth. While Columbia and Penn share the same Ivy record, 3-4, Penn won the dual meet earlier in the season and as a result is ranked fifth. Princeton is ranked first with a 7-0 Ivy record, followed by Harvard at 6-1. Cornell and Yale are tied for third place with a 4-3 Ivy record. Despite its fairly low standing, Columbia will be in a position to battle for one of the top three spots, as evidenced by individual performances this year and by Columbia’s performance in the Ivy League/EISL Championships in recent years.

Competition officially started Thursday and will carry on until Saturday at DeNunzio Pool.