Columbia Hosts Yale for Season Opener

The beginning of the Columbia women’s swim season will start today with a meet against Yale. Last year Columbia was unable to come away with a win, falling 169-123. If the Light Blue wants to come away with a victory tomorrow, it will need top performances from the entire team.

Last year Yale was able to take the victory by winning almost every event. Two major contributors to the Yale victory were sophomores Jane Kim and Susan Kim. These two swimmers combined for five of the Bulldogs’ 12 first-place finishes. Jane Kim, one of Yale’s major contributors, was very impressive in the freestyle events, taking the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle, and the 500-yard freestyle. In addition to those strong performances in the freestyle, the Bulldogs put up good performances in the breaststroke events. Susan Kim was the winner in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke. Although these two swimmers had so much success last year, the Lions are ready to challenge them in today’s meet.

The Lions also have strong swimmers in these respective events. For the freestyle events the Light Blue will have sophomore Delghir Urubshurow and junior Hannah Galey. In last year’s meet, these two continually contested the Yale freestyle swimmers. In the 200-yard freestyle event Urubshurow clocked in with a 1,55.19, only several seconds behind the event’s winner. She also placed fourth in the 500 freestyle event behind two Elis and former teammate Lauren Morford. She was also a major contributor to one of the events that Columbia won as a member of the Columbia A-relay team that won the 400-yard freestyle relay. Last year, Galey placed right behind Urubshurow in the 100-yard freestyle and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle event. Urubshurow also races in backstroke events, which seem to be her forte.

In addition to the strong freestylers on the team, Columbia has a top backstroker in senior co-captain Amy Krakauer. In last season’s match up against Yale, Krakauer placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:06.04. She then clocked in a time of 2:25.45 in the 200-yard breaststroke, which brought her to third place in the event. In addition to Krakauer, the Lions have new freshmen, Amanda Stewart and Mariele Dunn, who will prove to be useful in trying to win breaststroke events throughout the entire season.

The Lions also have junior diver Shannon Hosey. In last year’s meet, Hosey won both the one-meter and three-meter dive events. Last season Hosey continued to put up strong numbers. Hopefully this year leads Hosey to an impressive first meet and entire season.

The Lions match up against the Yale Bulldogs tonight at 7 p.m. in Uris Pool.