Men’s swimming falls to Penn, wins nailbiter against Yale

While the Columbia swimming and diving season opened with a loss against Penn, the men recovered quickly to rally against Yale the following day for a last-minute win. On Friday night, the Lions dove in to the Quakers’ pool in Philadelphia but came up short, 161-139. Saturday came down to the wire, as the Light Blue invited the Bulldogs to Manhattan and narrowly beat them in a 151-149 nail-biter.

The Lions started strong on Friday, taking first place in the 200-yard medley relay with the efforts of junior Johnny Bailey, senior Eric Tang, sophomore Bruno Esquen, and junior Adam Powell. The Light Blue finished third in the 1,000-yard freestyle, as sophomore Chester Dols completed the swim in 9:43.50, behind Penn freshmen Stephen Carroll and Ryan Littlefield.

While the Quakers placed 1-2-3 in the 200-yard freestyle, Columbia recovered with a win in the 100-yard backstroke thanks to newcomer Patrick Dougherty’s 54.42-second swim. Dougherty touched the wall just one tenth of a second ahead of Penn’s first finisher. In third, Lions senior Darren Pagan finished in 53.03 to grab another three points for the Light Blue.

Dougherty and Pagan contributed again in the 200-yard back, taking first and second with times of 1:54.68 and 1:54.75, respectively. Sophomore Robert Eyckmans picked up another victory for Columbia in the 200-yard butterfly, while Powell added two in the 50- and 100-yard free events.

On the diving boards, freshmen Jason Collazo and Michaelangelo Borghi opened up their collegiate careers with second- and third-place finishes in the one-meter dive. Collazo finished with 278.70 points and Borghi with 272.93.

Though the Lions put forth a valiant effort, it was not enough, as the Quakers continued to collect points, eventually sweeping the 500-yard free and taking the meet, 161-139.

The weekend was not completely lost, however, as Columbia battled its way to victory against Ivy League rival Yale after suffering a crushing defeat last year.

The Bulldogs’ diving squad stole the first event with a 1-2 finish in the three-meter dive, but Columbia’s Borghi improved on Friday’s dive and finished third with 273.31 points. The Lions responded with a win in the 200-medley relay with the same victorious team that trounced Penn. The Light Blue fared better in the second diving event of the day, the one-meter, taking first and second. Junior David Levkoff earned 276.15 points and Collazo grabbed 274.15.

The 1,000-free saw another Bulldog victory, but Columbia’s Dols, Sean MacKenzie, and Alex Smith swam for second, third, and fourth place, respectively.
Pagan represented the Light Blue well, beating out Yale’s top competitor in both the 200-free and 200-individual medley, as well as taking second in the 200-back. Seniors Ross Ramone and Tang snagged another 13 points for Columbia, finishing 1-2 in the 100-breaststroke as Tang out-touched two Yale competitors by only .01 seconds.

Powell emerged as the top dog, beating Yale’s Goksu Bicer in the 50-free and outpacing the runner-up in the 100-free by nearly two seconds.

Yale got the best of Columbia in the 500-free, with two men touching the wall before Dols and Smith came in, as well as the 100-fly, where Esquen’s second-place finish was the Light Blue’s top time in the event.

And so the fate of the meet came down to the 400-free relay. The relay teams were strategically rearranged with Jordan Kobb, Joseph Beutler, Nate Mormann, and Powell on the A team and freshmen Mitchell Phillips, Joseph Jeffers, John Wright, and Dougherty on the B squad. The plan worked, as the freshmen grabbed second and their teammates third, enough to negate Yale’s first-place finish and give Columbia the win. The Lions managed to squeak past the Bulldogs by just two points, 151-149.

The Lions will have to remain focused to face both Harvard and Army next weekend at home in Uris Pool.