Men's Swimming and Diving Team Loses Close Meet Against Cornell

The Columbia men’s swimming and diving team went down in a thriller against Cornell this weekend. Although the Lions fell to the Big Red with a final score of 153-147, Columbia (3-4, 0-4 Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League) put on an exciting show for fans and alumni in a meet that was not decided until the final race of the day.

The Light Blue got off to a tough start at the beginning of the meet in the 3-meter diving event. The Cornell divers were able to best the three Columbia divers, capturing the top four spots in the first diving event. Later in the meet, the Lions still could not overcome the Big Red divers and had to settle for fifth and sixth. Cornell continued its early success in the first swim event of the day, the 200-yard medley relay. The Big Red won the event, but Columbia teams took second and third.

The Lions got their first win in the 1000-yard freestyle thanks to junior Cedric Cheung-Lau. The swimmer finished with a time of 9:38.16, 12 seconds faster than second-place Cornell swimmer Anker Fog. Cheung-Lau went on to win the 500-yard freestyle event and place second in the 200-yard individual medley. His 1000-yard freestyle win, however, was the start of the Lions’ fight to stay in the meet.

Led by junior Zach Glassman, Columbia took the top three places in the 100-yard breaststroke. Glassman won the event with a time of 58.71, followed by sophomores Eric Tang and Ross Ramone in second and third. The trio was able to sweep the 200-yard breaststroke later in the meet.

The most exciting race of the meet occurred in the day’s final event, as the Lions were ahead of the Big Red 143-140 entering the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Cornell relay team of Kevin Carey, Wes Newman, Jackson Wang, and Brad Gorter started out behind Columbia’s squad, but Newman was able to take the lead in the second leg of the race.

Although the Lions’ team of junior Kevin Wakefield, freshman Adam Powell, junior John Dragelin, and junior Hyun Lee gave a strong chase, it could not make up the distance to catch Cornell. However, earlier in the meet, Lee swam a personal best and new Uris pool record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.21.
Although the Lions lost, they still looked good in the water. Columbia should be able to win more meets in the upcoming weeks.

The Light Blue will face off against Brown next weekend at Uris Pool.