CU Places Fifth at Championships

The Columbia men’s swimming and diving team competed at the 2009 Ivy League championships this past weekend in Princeton, N.J., finishing fifth with 862.5 points. Princeton won the team championships with a dominating score of 1663.5 points, taking the title back from Harvard, who won last year’s championships by finishing just a few points ahead of the Tigers.

While the Lions may not be happy with their overall fifth place finish, many of the individuals that competed not only broke personal records, but school records as well. Senior Zach Glassman took fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a final time of 1:59.42, breaking Columbia’s school record for the event. Sophomore Adam Powell took sixth in the 100-yard freestyle, an event dominated by Yale’s Alex Righi who finished with a final time of 41.91 seconds. Senior Kevin Wakefield finished 13th in the event as Columbia’s only swimmer in the B finals for the 100 free.

Senior Cedric Cheung-Lau posted an impressive time in the 200-yard butterfly, in which he took ninth. Cheung-Lau finished the event in 1:48.46, placing him second on Columbia’s school record book for the event while also eclipsing his best time from last year of 1:50.07. Freshman Robert Eyckmans finished 16th in the same event, rounding out the B finals for the 200 fly.

The Lions had several swimmers earn points in the 200-yard backstroke. Junior Darren Pagan led Columbia in the event with an 11th place finish. Cheung-Lau took 13th, senior David Collier took 16th, and sophomore Stephen Yang took 18th. In the grueling 1,650-yard freestyle event, freshman Alex Smith finished 13th place with a final time of 15:34.77. The Light Blue finished the last day of competition off strong with a fifth place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Columbia’s relay team consisted of Powell, senior John Dragelin, Pagan, and Wakefield.

In diving, Columbia sophomore David Levkoff and senior Jeff Hull finished 17th and 18th respectively. The pair ended the competition within four points of each other as Levkoff finished with 213.05 points and Hull with 209.30 points.

With the end of the EISL championships the 2009 season ends as well. The Lions finished 5-6 overall, and 3-4 in the Ivy League. As the seniors graduate after impressive careers at Columbia, the remaining swimmers and coaches have months to prepare for next year’s men’s swimming and diving season.