Lions and Bears fight for Ancient Eight victory

Today the men’s swimming team faces off against Brown as both squads search for their season’s second win in the Ancient Eight.

The Bears, who have an overall record of 2-6 (1-3 Ivy), are coming off a tough 127-116 loss to undefeated Ivy-leader Harvard last weekend in Boston. Brown won its first in-conference competition against Dartmouth earlier this season, but has since lost five straight meets coming into tomorrow’s matchup.

Columbia too has not had the best of luck in the league. While with a winning 4-3 record overall, the Lions are also 1-3 in the Ancient Eight. Penn and Harvard–both of whom have also defeated Brown–triumphed over the Light Blue earlier this season. Most recently, the Lions lost a heart-wrenching Homecoming meet to Cornell, 152-148, which came down to the very last event.

A little bruised but with solid performances in each loss, both teams dive back into the pool this afternoon, looking to prove themselves in the Ancient Eight.

The last time the two teams met, Columbia handed the Bears a loss in a well-defined 186-112 decision.

The Lions took first place in 10 out of the meet’s 16 events. After winning the three-meter dive to start, the men went on to win the 200 medley relay in the day’s first swimming event.

Though Brown won the next two events, Columbia proceeded to put together a string of victories that the Bears struggled to disrupt for the rest of the meet.

Off the diving boards, then-sophomore David Levkoff split the diving events with Brown’s C.J. Kambe. This year, the two will also be joined by first-years Jason Collazo and Michaelangelo Borghi from Columbia and Jon Feldman from Brown.

Despite last year’s results, the Lions still have plenty of competition to face this afternoon. Just last weekend, Brown’s Conor Carlucci swam the school’s 10th-fastest 100 butterfly time in program history: 49.90 seconds. Carlucci also performed well in the 100 breaststroke, finishing a close second.

Junior Ryan Kikuchi will also be a force in the pool. Kikuchi most recently won the 400 individual medley against Harvard. The week before, however, Kikuchi won two individual events against Boston University–the 200 backstroke and the 200 individual medley–proving his versatility in between the lanes.

Columbia’s top swimmers will also have to look out for J.D. Pinto, John Hug, and Tucker Wetmore.

The Lions and Bears dive in at a neutral location–Dartmouth, Mass.—today at 4 p.m.