Women's swimming falls in season opener versus Yale

It was a disappointing opening weekend for the women’s swimming and diving team, as it fell to Yale, 199-101, in its first dual meet of the season. After losing last year’s close contest, the Bulldogs were able to exact revenge against the Lions to get their year started on the right foot. En route to its first victory of the season, the Yale squad broke five Uris Pool records, including first place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard breast and 100-yard butterfly.

The first event was a portent of things to come for Columbia as Yale finished 1-2-3 in the three-meter dive, collecting 16 points for a strong start.
The Bulldogs then continued their impressive display breaking their first pool record of the meet in the 200-yard medley. Yale’s Emily Dominski, Susan Kim, Alex Forrester and Cynthia Tsay completed the event in 1:45:10 while Columbia’s Delghi Urubshurow, Mariele Dunn, Allison Hobbs and freshman Lacey Harris-Coble touched the wall second with a time of 1:47.71.

Yale’s senior-freshman duo, Kim and Forrester, controlled the meet from start to finish. In addition to participating in the medley, Kim set the new pool record in both breast events, beating Columbia freshman Katie Meili by 1.83 seconds in the 100-yard. But Kim’s greatest victory came in the 200-breast, during which she managed a 4.35 second margin over the runner-up.

Forrester was responsible for the other new Uris records on Friday. After capturing first in her first collegiate career win in the 200-medley, Forrester picked up three more first-place finishes in the 200-free, 100-free, and 100-fly. In the 200-free, Forrester outpaced Lions’ second-place Paige Endsley by 6.59 seconds.

Despite the loss, Columbia’s own freshmen showed potential and signs of good things to come. Freshman Molly Dengler touched the wall third in her first collegiate contest in the 1,000-free with a time of 10:27.78. Harris-Coble also picked up points for the Light Blue, placing second in the 50-free with a time of 24.71 and tying with junior Ashley MacLean for third in the 100-free. Freshman Caroline Lukins finished third in the 100-fly, just .02 seconds behind Yale’s Monica Tung.

The Light Blue managed to close the gap slightly towards the end of the meet as veterans Urubshurow and Dunn placed first and third, respectively, in the 200-IM. Urubshurow completed the event in 2:07.33, while Dunn touched the wall at 2:09.87. The Lions’ squad of Harris-Coble, MacLean, Endsley, and Emily Brown then ended the night with a victory in the final event—the 400-free relay with a time of 3:37.44.

The Light Blue next travels to Cambridge, Mass. to participate in the Harvard Invitational on Friday, Nov. 22.