Men's swimming comes up short in Homecoming meet

Yesterday, the Columbia men’s swimming and diving team fought valiantly in its Homecoming meet to avenge last year’s loss to Cornell, but came up a few points short on the wrong side of a 152-148 decision.

Freshman Jason Collazo drew first blood for Columbia, winning the three-meter dive with 305.48 points. With fellow freshman Michaelangelo Borghi’s fourth-place finish, the Light Blue went up 11-8.
The Lions also started strong between the lanes, as the 200 medley relay team of junior Jonny Bailey, senior Eric Tang, sophomore Bruno Esquen, and junior Adam Powell took first in the event.
Sophomores Sean MacKenzie, Chester Dols, and Alex Smith then swept the 1,000 freestyle. MacKenzie won in 9:50.58, with Dols close behind in 9:52.96 and Smith following in 10:02.79.

Cornell responded by taking the top two places in the 200 freestyle. Senior Darren Pagan was the first swimmer in blue to touch the wall, taking third in 1:43.41. Freshman Mitchell Phillips and sophomore Joseph Beutler grabbed the next two places with times of 1:45.07 and 1:45.94, respectively.

The Lions snagged second and third in the 100 backstroke, with Bailey finishing in 52.04 and freshman Patrick Dougherty close behind in 52.13 seconds.

Cornell bested the Light Blue in the 100 breaststroke, and took the lead as Tang was only able to take second place with a 58.07 swim.

The 200 butterfly saw the Big Red outtouch the field yet again, but Esquen, sophomore Robert Eyckmans, and senior Nick Barron teamed up to take second through fourth.

Powell posted another win in the Columbia column with a 20.51 second swim in the 50 freestyle, beating Cornell’s top competitor by 0.78 seconds, and the Light Blue jumped back into the lead with Collazo’s and Borghi’s first- and second-place dives off the one-meter board.

Adding to Columbia’s lead, Powell won the 100 freestyle in 45.56 seconds, while Phillips contributed another point with his fifth-place finish.

Dougherty and Pagan raced together again in the 200 backstroke, as Dougherty took second place in 1:54.09 with Pagan close behind in third with a 1:54.28 finish.

The Big Red took another first place, this time in the 200 breaststroke, forcing junior Ross Ramone and Tang to settle for second and third. Ramone touched the wall 2:07.80 from the start, and Tang did so in 2:07.86.

MacKenzie, Dols, and Smith finished consecutively for the second time in the meet, this time behind Cornell’s Dean Holcomb in the 500 freestyle. The sophomores came in at 4:39.94, 4:47.48, and 4:50.35, respectively.

After shrinking the gap in the breaststroke and freestyle, Cornell forced another lead change with a win in the 100 butterfly. Esquen took second place yet again, finishing in 51.10 seconds. Barron took fourth in 52.17.

Next, Pagan, Dols, and sophomore Erik Mai lost to two Big Red swimmers in the 200 individual medley, which left it all up to the 400 freestyle relay. Columbia needed to sweep first through third to win the meet.

While the team composed of Dougherty, Phillips, Esquen, and Powell took first, Cornell snagged the next two places and edged out the Light Blue 152-148.

The Lions will continue the search for their second win in the Ancient Eight this Friday against Brown.