The Columbia women’s swim team (7-1, 3-1 Ivy) continued its winning ways this weekend against Cornell, earning its sixth straight win since losing to Harvard. Beating the Big Red 188.5 to 106.5, the Light Blue swimmers and divers came ready to compete, and by the end of the meet, had won 15 out of the 16 events and finished first and second in 12 events.
The first event of the day was the 3-meter diving. In the field of five, the Lions were able to best the Big Red and placed first and second in the event. Junior Joanna Corby took second place with a score of 258.75, placing only behind fellow Columbia junior Shannon Hosey. Later on during the 1-meter diving, Corby and Hosey were able to once again take first and second place; Corby scored 227.10 for second place, and Hosey won the event with 255 points.
The first swimming event of the meet was the 400-yard medley relay. The Lions took an early lead in the first leg of the race. When anchor Hannah Galey jumped into the pool, the Columbia relay team of Lauren Fraley, Amy Krakauer, Allison Hobbs and Galey were within reach of the Uris Pool record. Galey touched with a final time of 3:50.53. This time beat the 1998 400-yard medley relay record by just over seven seconds. In addition to destroying the previous pool record, the Light Blue was within two seconds of the varsity record. Given Columbia’s performance thus far, it would not be a surprise to see the 400-yard medley varsity record fall.
The new record signaled just the beginning of a great meet for Columbia. In the next event, the Lions, led by Emily Brown, won the 400-yard individual medley. Brown finished with a time of 4:37.31. Toward the end of the race, teammate and senior co-captain Lisa Rohrs challenged Brown, but in the end Brown was able to hold off Rohrs. However, Rohrs would later swim a personal best in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:28.89.
Following the 400-yard individual medley, the Light Blue went on to bring in three 1-2-3 finishes. The first Lions sweep occurred in the 200-yard freestyle, when three Columbia freshmen took the top spots. Ashley MacLean won the event, followed by Mariele Dunn and Abby Reilly. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Krakauer won with a time of 1:05.34, and freshman Amanda Stewart and senior co-captain Madeline Merrill completed the top-three finishes. The final domination took place in the 500-yard freestyle. Sophomores Caitlin Bertelsen and Tina Hughes took first and second place. Freshman Campbell Gray finished the sweep with a time of 5:19.97.
The Lions take on rival Brown this Saturday at Uris Pool at noon.