Light Blue travels to Princeton to compete for Ivy Title

This is it.

The men’s swimming and diving team has prepared all season in anticipation of the league championships—and the day has come.

The Ancient Eight has gathered in Princeton for the Ivy League Championships, which begins today at 11 a.m. and continues until Saturday night. The Lions are up for three full days of intense competition.

Junior Adam Powell, expected to be one of the Light Blue’s top performers, can find his name at the top of the list for many events on the psych sheet. Powell has the fastest seedtime in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events, just ahead of many Princeton swimmers. Tigers hold the next three fastest times in the 50 and the next six in the 100 free.

Powell has the second fastest time in the league so far in the 100 backstroke as well, second only to Harvard’s Jordan Diekama. Also in this backstroking event are Johnny Bailey, seeded 14th, Patrick Dougherty at 20th, and Darren Pagan with the 25th fastest time.

Pagan and Dougherty are seeded 15th and 17th, respectively, in the 200 backstroke as well.

The breaststroke will be covered by resident experts, seniors Eric Tang and Ross Ramone, as well as first-year Erik Mai. Tang has the sixth fastest time in the 100 and the seventh in the 200. Ramone is seeded 20th in the 100 and 12th in the 200. Mai is listed as 21st in both.

Sophomore Bruno Esquen is in line for the butterfly events, with the 10th fastest league time in the 100 fly and the 22nd in the 200 fly. Joining him in the 100 will be Pagan, seeded 16th, and in the 200, Robert Eyckmans (25) and Nick Barron (26) will join as well.

In the distance events, one will be able to see the expected trio of freshman Sean Mackenzie and sophomores Chester Dols and Alex Smith. The three have worked together successfully at the distance events all season, often coming in one right after the other. This weekend in the 500 freestyle, Mackenzie is seeded 22nd, Dols, 23rd and Smith 30th. Joining them will be freshman Joe Beutler, seeded 29th.

Mackenzie and Smith will also try their hand at the 1,650 freestyle, with seed times ranking them 13th and 20th respectively.

The trio should look more like a herd in the 100 free, a comfortable event for all, Mackenzie, Dols, and Smith are seeded close at 10th, 15th and 17th.

In the diving events, Jason Collazo, Michaelangelo Borghi and David Levkoff will be representing the Light Blue as they have all season. Collazo is seeded in the top 10 in the 1- and 3-meter dives, and all Lions are within the top 18 for both.

Columbia’s relays are seeded consistently fifth or sixth throughout most events. The relays for this weekend are set as the 200, 400, and 800 freestyle and the 200 and 400 medley. The Lions’ best relay, the 400 medley, is seeded third behind Princeton and Harvard.

With the home crowd advantage, the Tigers look to sweep championship competition and uphold their undefeated league record from the dual season schedule.

Competition begins today, Mar. 4 at 11 a.m. in Princeton, N.J. with preliminary heats of the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, and 3-meter dive. The championships end in the evening on Mar. 6 with the conclusion 500 free relay.