Cornell Provides Even Match for Men's Swimming

The Columbia men’s swimming and diving team (3-3, 0-3 Ivy) seeks its first Ivy League win of the season this Saturday against Cornell. The team has recently returned from their training trip in Hawaii and, in their first meet in a month, defeated Bucknell last week. The team is now back in action for the remainder of the season.

Cornell (4-4, 2-3 Ivy) lost its first meet after the break against swimming powerhouses Navy and Yale. The Big Red has since redeemed itself with a win against Division III Colgate last Saturday.
Cornell’s top swimmer appears to be middle distance swimmer Wes Newman, who won the 200- and 500-yard freestyles, and also was a member of the winning 400-yards freestyle relay. He should be a good matchup for Columbia’s Cedric Cheung-Lau, who placed second in the 200 freestyle at the Bucknell meet with a time of 1.45.06.

The Big Red is relatively weak with sprints, which is the Lions’ strength with freshman Adam Powell. Powell placed first in the 50-meter freestyle last weekend with a time of 21.17. Powell is the fastest incoming freshman in this event in Columbia’s history, and he is already making his mark as a Lion.

While Cornell does have some weaknesses, there are other events where it should excel, especially with the help of Newman. Columbia’s head coach, Jim Bolster, is optimistic about Columbia’s chance at winning the 200-meter breaststroke, though he said that “there is not one event we will win for sure.”

“I feel good about all our guys,” he said. “Last year, this meet went down to the last relay and it should be another great matchup.”

As far as diving goes, the Light Blue’s best bet is Jeff Hull, who racked up 230.77 points in his last meet, placing second overall. However, Cornell is quite strong in the diving department, with their top four divers completely sweeping Colgate. Cornell junior Chris Donohoe won the Big Red’s last meet with a score of 276.15, while his teammate, freshman Mike Sheppard, placed second only three points behind him.

The meet will be at 4 p.m. at Uris Pool on Saturday.