Women’s Swimming Defeats Brown for Seventh Straight Victory

The Columbia women’s swimming and diving team (8-1, 4-1 Ivy) continued its winning streak with its seventh straight victory. Left with matches against only Princeton and Dartmouth, the Lions have an excellent chance of achieving the best record since the program’s inception.

This past meet against Brown could have been a real challenge for the Light Blue. Last season when the two teams met, Columbia managed to emerge with only a narrow victory. This time around, however, the Lions beat the Bears with a final score of 194-106. The Light Blue did not delay its winning ways and started the meet off with a win in the first event.

This season’s divers have functioned as key components to their teams’ success. Juniors Joanna Corby and Shannon Hosey finished first and second, as they have so many times this year, in the three-meter diving event. However, Hosey’s standout performance later on in the meet proved to be the most exciting diving moment. Ending the one-meter dive with a score of 279.78, Hosey qualified for NCAA Zones in diving and won the competition. Corby placed second.

The Lions’ strongest races this season have been the 1000- and 500-yard freestyle, and once again, the Light Blue took first and second in both events. At the start of the 1000-yard event, three swimmers began to pull away from the rest of the field. Columbia junior Meg Brown and freshman Abby Reilly led the pack, and Brown junior Ainsley McFadgen tried in vain to keep up with the duo. As the race continued, Columbia swimmers Brown and Reilly pulled away from McFadgen and captured the top two finishes in the event. The Light Blue would then go on to repeat these results in the 500-yard event.

As the meet reached a close, the Light Blue’s impending victory was obvious. That did not stop sophomore Allison Hobbs from dominating the 100-yard butterfly. Fending off Brown swimmer Natascha Mangan in a neck-and-neck struggle for most of the race, Hobbs pulled out in front at the very end and took the win in an impressive 56.99. Although Hobbs narrowly missed the current Uris Pool record of 56.90, she will have one last chance this season to beat that record when Columbia swims against Dartmouth in two weekends.

The Lions will be back in action this Friday, Feb. 8, when they travel to Princeton to face off against the Tigers.