Women's Swimming Keeps Shining at Penn, Wagner

The Columbia women's swimming and diving team is off to one of the best starts in recent memory. The Lions competed in two meets this weekend and won both by significant margins. The Lions are now 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Ivy League. The Lions were successful in all of their races this past weekend and appear to be one of the dominant forces in the Ivy League.

The weekend started with the contest against Penn at Uris Pool. The meet started with the 3-meter diving event where junior Shannon Hosey was the only Lion to compete. She successfully nailed her dives and was able to win the first event of the evening.

The Lions were able to take first and second place in the 200-yard medley relay. The relays had been one of the Lions' weaknesses last season against the Quakers, but this year it was the Quakers who had the problem keeping up. Junior Megan Brown won her first of two distance races of the day clocking in with a time of 10:19.10 in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Brown went on to win the 500-yard freestyle later on in the meet.

Brown was not the only Lion who won two events against Penn. Freshman Mariele Dunn was able to place first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:19.66. Senior co-captain Amy Krakauer was right behind her, finishing second in the race. Krakauer also won the 100-yard breaststroke early in the meet. Dunn won her second event when she out-touched teammate Delghir Urubshurow in the 200-yard individual medley. One of the most exciting events was the 100-yard butterfly, as the Lions were able to take first and second place with sophomores Allison Hobbs and Christina Hughes.

Hobbs finished her individual swim with a time of 56.96, only .07 seconds away from tying the pool record. With fantastic swims like that, Hobbs will continue to be a key component of the Lions team and especially at Ivies.

After the Ivy League victory the Lions traveled to Staten Island to face off against Wagner. The team did not take a break against Wagner on Saturday, winning every single event in the meet. The Lions were able to get strong performances from sophomores Urubshurow and Hobbs. Each of these swimmers won two individual events apiece. Urubshurow was able to place first in the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard breaststroke, while Hobbs won two sprint events in the 50-yard freestyle and the 50-yard butterfly.

In addition to these performances, the class of 2011 put up an impressive day as a whole. The Columbia freshmen won four individual events. Dunn placed first in the 200-yard butterfly, Ashley Ramsden won the 200-yard backstroke, Amanda Stewart won the 100-yard individual medley, and Abby Reilly put up another impressive distance swim in the 500-yard freestyle for the second day in a row. The Lions ended the day with another 1-2 finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay when the team of co-captain Madeline Merrill, Krakauer, junior Lauren Fraley, and junior Hannah Galey just beat a Columbia relay comprised of sophomores Hughes, Hobbs, Urubshurow, and Katie Omstead.

The Light Blue will take their recent success into their training trip over winter break. When they return they will travel to Bucknell on the Jan. 18. The Lions will be back in Ivy League competition when they host the Cornell Big Red on Saturday, Jan. 26.