Last night the Columbia men’s swimming and diving team once again proved that they are faster than Fordham. In doing so, the Light Blue achieved a winning record, 3-2, for the first time this season. The Lions beat the Rams, 155-145, with a little room to spare.
Initially, Fordham surprised the Light Blue by winning the 200 medley relay. Columbia’s A-team, comprised of junior Adam Powell, senior Eric Tang, sophomore Bruno Esquen, and senior Darren Pagan, was able to snag second with a time of 1:35.93, just .26 seconds behind the Rams’ first team.
Columbia stepped it up in the distance events following the relay, as sophomores Chester Dols and Alex Smith went No. 1-No. 2 in the 1000 freestyle, with times of 9:48.86 and 9:52.08, respectively.
Another first-and-second-place finish for the Light Blue came from the likes of freshmen Patrick Dougherty and Sean MacKenzie in the 200 freestyle. Dougherty touched the wall first in 1:46.98, with Mackenzie right behind him at 1:47.43. Dougherty also raced in the 100 backstroke, taking second in 52.96.
The Lions didn’t fare as well in the shorter sprint events, as Fordham grabbed first place in the 50 backstroke, 50 breaststroke, and 100 butterfly. In the backstroke, Columbia was represented by Johnny Bailey, who took second in 24.83 seconds. In the breaststroke, Tang was less than two tenths of a second behind first with a time of 27.98, while in the butterfly Esquen grabbed the Lions another four points with his second-place finish. Teammate Dols swam the 100 butterfly as well, coming in fourth in 54.89.
The Light Blue regained command of the meet as Pagan won the 50 freestyle in just 21.82 seconds. In the 100 freestyle, Pagan’s time of 47.58 was good enough for second place.
Seniors Ross Ramone and Tang had clutch finishes in the 100 breaststoke. The pair topped the charts as the only two swimmers to touch the wall in less than a minute—Ramone in 59.49, Tang in 59.60.
After the meet, coach Bolster cited the key performances of Mackenzie, Smith, and Dols in the 500 freestyle. Mackenzie won the event in 4:47.28, followed by Smith in 4:48.88, with Dols right behind in 4:49.42.
While the swimming events ended with a Fordham one-two-three sweep in the 200 freestyle relay, Columbia snuck in one last win as Pagan crushed the field in the 100 individual medley in 53.82 seconds, almost two full seconds ahead of the next swimmer.
In the diving pool, Fordham’s Benjamin Otto snagged first place in the three-meter dive with 286.88 points. Columbia’s top performers were freshmen Jason Collazo and Michaelangelo Borghi, who scored 275.25 and 268.58 points, respectively. The Lions fared better in the one-meter dive competition—Collazo won with 266.93 points, while Borghi and junior David Levkoff wrapped up second and third with 260.40 and 257.18 points.
Going into the meet, coach Bolster’s expectations were high, and history indicated that the Light Blue should prevail. In the end the Lions were able to beat Fordham, but the Rams put up a fight. Columbia started the meet with a slightly irregular lineup.
“We mixed up the lineup a little bit so we weren’t swimming necessarily our A-lineup throughout the meet,” coach Bolster explained. “But when we didn’t win the first relay … we made some adjustments as the meet went along to sort of ensure … that we would win it before it went down to the last relay.”
After three meets in only four days, the Lions have a bit of a respite before diving back into the pool again at the Bucknell Invitational from Dec. 4 to Dec. 6.
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