Lions fall to Harvard, defeat Army in weekend competitions

The men’s swimming and diving team split its dual league meets this weekend, leaving it with a 3-1 overall record.

Friday night was disappointing for the Lions, as they fell 196-102 to Harvard. Despite the final result, they had several impressive first-place finishes. Senior Adam Powell found the wall first in both the 50- and 100-yard free. Junior Bruno Esquen finished first in the 100-yard fly, and a team of Powell, sophomore Patrick Dougherty, and freshmen Eric Traub and Daniel Tan won the closing race of the night, the 200-yard free relay, in 1:24.78. Unfortunately for Columbia, the Light Blue was unable to overcome the Crimson’s first-place finishes in seven straight events that came early in the night, due to a group of talented Harvard underclassmen.

However, in their second away meet of the weekend, the Lions beat Army 174-126 on Saturday afternoon.

Sophomores Jason Collazo, Michaelangelo Borghi, and senior David Levkoff went two-three-four in the one-meter diving event. Sophomore Sean Mackenzie, Esquen, and Powell were all double winners. Mackenzie finished first in the 1000-yard freestyle, touching the wall seven seconds before the rest of the competition. Mackenzie also won the 500-yard freestyle. Powell won both the 50- and 100-yard free, and Esquen placed first in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly. In similar fashion to previous meets, the Light Blue finished first in both the opening and closing races.

After a short break, Columbia returns to action on Dec. 3 at the Princeton Invitational in Princeton, N.J.