Men's Swimming Hosts Last Home Meet

The Columbia men’s swimming and diving team (4-5, 1-4 Ivy) will be competing against two Ivy League teams this weekend. The Light Blue will race on the road against Princeton on Friday and will then return back to New York to take on Dartmouth on Saturday. Since these competitions are the last two Ancient Eight meets of the season and the Lions only have one win under their belt, victories this weekend are crucial in conference standings. The Lions lost against the Naval Academy 176-119 last weekend but sustained strong swims despite the loss.

Princeton (6-1, 3-1) is having an outstanding season losing to only swimming powerhouse Harvard. Recently coming off a win from Navy, Columbia will have to really step up its game this weekend if it wants to defeat the Tigers. The Lions will have to look out for Doug Lennox, an Olympic qualifier from Puerto Rico who placed first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.24. Princeton also dominated the 200-yard medley relay, sweeping the top three places in the event. However, the 50-yard freestyle event this weekend should be exciting, with Columbia freshman Adam Powell competing against Princeton freshman Alex Verdegem who won the event with a time of 21.10. Powell placed third in the event against Brown two weeks ago with a time of 21.53.

The Lions should have an easier time defeating Dartmouth (2-9, 0-6 Ivy), but the competition will still be fierce. The Big Green is still searching for its first Ivy League victory, recently losing to Princeton 94-149. Dartmouth will be looking to long-distance freestyle Kevin Ellis, who won all three of his events last weekend against the University of Maine. Other notable performances came from senior Gordon Russell winning the 100-yard backstroke and senior Andrew Berry winning both of the diving events.

While Columbia has a few outstanding swimmers, it is the team’s depth that helps it score points in the long run. The Lions should look to junior Hyun Lee this weekend to score some points. Lee has had an outstanding season, winning countless events as well as setting a Uris Pool record in the 100-yard butterfly at the Cornell meet. Lee, Junior Steve Ko and sophomore Darren Pagan were the only swimmers to win individual events at the Navy meet. These athletes hope to be able to continue their successful performances throughout the weekend as well as at the upcoming Ivy League championships.

The meet on Friday will commence at 6 p.m. at Princeton, and the final home meet of the season will start at 4 p.m. at the Uris Pool here in New York.