Columbia looks to experienced swimmers for success

A new season means new opportunities for the Columbia men’s swimming and diving team. Last year the Lions finished with a 5-6 overall record and a 3-4 Ivy League mark. At the Ivy Championships, Columbia placed fifth with 862.5 points, finishing behind Princeton, Harvard, Cornell, and Yale, in that order. Princeton took back the title from Harvard with 1663.5 points to Harvard’s 1311.5.

Despite the disappointing finish, many of Columbia’s top swimmers posted impressive times throughout the season and even set a number of new school records. Then-senior Zach Glassman broke the varsity records in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke with times of 55.84 and 1:59.24 respectively. Current senior Darren Pagan also broke two varsity records last year in the 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard IM. Even more impressive than the individual finishes were the times put up by the Lions’ relay teams. The 200-yard medley relay team consisting of Pagan, Glassman, then-senior Steve Ko, and current junior Adam Powell broke the school record with a time of 1:30.40. Three of the previous swimmers, Powell, Ko, and Pagan, also joined up with then-senior John Dragelin to break the 200-yard freestyle record in a time of 1:20.60. However, these impressive times will be hard to repeat in the 2009-2010, season as many of the Lions’ top swimmers were lost to graduation. This year, Columbia will be without the leadership of Glassman, Lee, Ko, and Cedric Cheung-Lau, just to name a few. In addition, this year’s diving squad will be without graduated senior Jeff Hull.

In order for the Lions to be competitive this year, they will have to rely on young freshman talent. The 2009-2010 roster features 16 freshmen, who should fill the void left by the graduated seniors, especially in the diving squad, which has been in need of new athletes. The three freshmen looking to give the diving team a much-needed boost are Michaelangelo Borghi from New Jersey, and Jason Collazo and Joshua Holowinski from New York. They will be led by junior David Levkoff.

“I think our junior diver Dave Levkoff has the potential to be a significant force on the boards,” head coach Jim Bolster said.

The success of the season, however, does not rest on the shoulders of the newcomers, but instead on those of returning swimmers. The Lions will rely on the consistency and leadership of seniors Nick Barron, Ross Ramone, and Pagan.

“Senior captains Nick Barron, Darren Pagan, and Ross Ramone have a wealth of dual and championship meet experience and success, and should be the guys who lead us in a record-breaking season,” Bolster said.

In addition, the Light Blue will succeed if its sophomores live up to the expectations that they set last year. Two swimmers to note are sophomore Bruno Esquen and sophomore Alex Smith. Esquen took third place in the 100-yard butterfly in last year’s ECAC championships, while Smith posted the top dual-meet times in both the 1000-yard freestyle and the 1650-yard freestyle.

Whether or not the returning swimmers can improve on last season’s results will become clearer over the course of this season. The team’s first test will come this Friday, when Columbia travels to Penn for a 5 p.m. meet. On Saturday at 4 p.m. Columbia will host Yale in the season’s first home meet.