Lions Pursue Ivy League Elites

The Columbia women’s swimming and diving team, fresh off their training trip and victory at Bucknell, are now turning their attention to Cornell in their pursuit of an Ivy title. The Lions are looking to show off the skills that they fine-tuned over their weeklong trip in Puerto Rico. If they want to be 7-1 at the end of this weekend, they will need to have strong performances from all competitors.

It is clear from the results of last week’s meet that the training trip was beneficial. “We had a very productive training trip. I think long course training at that point in the season really adds a lot to our training and fitness,” said head coach Diana Caskey when asked to reflect on the trip as a whole. Caskey also praised the trip for helping her swimmers stay in shape over the break. The Lions hope that their competitiveness and success from Bucknell will carry over to this homecoming weekend against Cornell.

In addition to the regular incentive of beating an Ivy League opponent, Caskey mentioned that some of her swimmers will have additional motivation to swim well against Cornell. “We had a lot of good races against Bucknell last weekend, and we are looking to compete well again,” she said. “We have to make decisions for the Ivy team, so that gives many swimmers extra incentive to race well. With some people, we’ll use it as an opportunity to switch up some events to add some racing variety.” This means that fans can expect to see some fast races and variation in the lineup this weekend.

If Cornell wants to compete against Columbia, it will need to get a strong performance from senior Leah Tourtellotte. Tourtellotte “is always a great competitor, so we will be interested to see where Coach [John] Holohan swims her, as she will provide great racing opportunities,” Caskey said. Typically, Tourtellotte swims the fly and free events. Columbia’s major competitors will be junior Hannah Galey in the freestyle events and sophomore Allison Hobbs in the butterfly events.

The Lions appear to be on a mission, trying to prove they are one of the best teams in the Ivy League. They have already defeated Yale and Penn, and their one Ivy loss came at the hands of Harvard.

The Lions have advanced this season through a combination of team effort and individual drive to succeed. “Cornell will provide another opportunity for us to fine-tune our races to achieve the individual goals and to continue to mold and refine our team persona to meet our team goals,” Caskey said.

The Lions match up against the Big Red this Saturday at noon at Uris Pool.