W. Swimming Drowns Black Knights, Downed by Harvard

The women’s swimming team has earned its Thanksgiving dinner this season.

After scaring Harvard in a close meet and defeating Army by a large margin, the Light Blue (2-1, 1-1 Ivy) will wrap up its packed week with what is expected to be an easy victory against Fordham today.

Before losing to the Crimson 170.5-129.5, the Lions managed to corner Harvard into a close score of 107.5-99.5 after 11 events. Friday’s meet marked the first time that Columbia’s 200-yard medley relay team, powered by junior Lauren Fraley, senior Amy Krakauer, sophomore Allison Hobbs, and junior Hannah Galey, ever defeated Harvard in that event. Earlier this season, the same relay team broke the Uris Pool record in the 200-yard medley. Sophomore Delghir Urubshurow competed in both the 400-yard individual medley and the 200-yard backstroke, winning both events. First-year Mariele Dunn also performed notably, taking second in the 100-yard breaststroke right behind co-captain Krakauer. The Crimson overtook the Lions in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the 200-yard individual medley, the 100-yard butterfly, and the 500-yard freestyle.

The Army meet, while less competitive than the Harvard matchup, allowed head coach Diana Caskey to let developing swimmers compete and move athletes into different events. First-year Erica Dorfman won the 100-yard backstroke, and Galey took first in the 50-yard freestyle. Urubshurow won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyles, while Dunn took first in the 100-yard free and second in the 200-yard free.

According to Caskey, today’s meet against Fordham is not expected to be particularly competitive. This past weekend, the Rams (5-0) defeated Duquesne and Rhode Island in a dual meet, although Columbia’s times in most events beat those of Fordham. This will be the Light Blue’s first away meet, a challenge Caskey said her team is prepared to take on.

“Our meet against Fordham is a good match in terms of who owns New York,” she said. “We’re just going to get out there and see where the day takes us.”

The Columbia-Fordham meet will begin tonight at 6 p.m.