Momentum Propels Men's Swimming

The Columbia men’s swimming and diving team took a major step in its push to an Ivy League championship last weekend. The Lions earned their first conference victory with a come-from-behind win over Brown at Uris Pool. In addition to Columbia sweeps in three different individual events, the 400-yard freestyle relay team took first as the team overcame an initial lag during the first 11 events to win 161.5-138.5 in a meet that was much closer than the final score reflects.

The Lions now head to Annapolis, Maryland to take on conference rival Navy with a little momentum on their side. Junior Hyun Lee is bringing his career-best season in which the South Korea native has excelled in both the individual and relay freestyle events. Meanwhile, senior captain Henning Fog looks to bounce back from a fracture that kept his arm in a cast and his body out of the water during the team’s training trip to Hawaii and Puerto Rico over winter break.

For Navy, it will be the team’s penultimate meet of the regular season, as the Midshipmen will take on Princeton Saturday after Friday’s meet against the Lions. Navy sits in second place in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League with an overall record of 14-1 and a conference record of 5-1 behind undefeated Harvard. A win over Columbia would assure Navy at least a third-place finish in the league standings, which they have not accomplished since the 1997-98 season. A Mids defeat of Princeton would leave them in a tie for second place at worst—a finish the team hasn’t had since its 1985-86 campaign.

The last time the two teams met was last year in New York, and the Midshipmen saw the Lions emerge victorious with a 172-128 edge, winning 12 of the 16 events. Sophomore Adam Meyer touched first in the 200-yard individual medley for the Midshipmen. Navy has lost to Columbia in five straight contests and hasn’t defeated Princeton on the road since the 1963-64 season. During the 16 seasons in which Princeton has competed in DeNunzio Pool, the Tigers have compiled a perfect 97-0 dual meet record. Navy, however, posted a 165-135 victory at home over Princeton during last season, its first win in the series in 42 years.

The Lions hit the waters on Friday at 4 p.m. in Annapolis, Maryland.