Columbia vs Yale (Men)
- November 11, 2023
- New York, N.Y.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Columbia Athletics
NEW YORK — The Columbia men’s swimming and diving team returned home to Uris Natatorium on Saturday afternoon for its second meet in two days. The Lions welcomed Yale to New York City, and came out victorious in a tightly contested meet by a score of 158-140 to improve to 2-1 on the season.
“The win was a great one for us,” Head Coach Jim Bolster said. “I told the team there was a way to win, but they ALL would have to be money…and they were!”
The Lions got off to a hot start in the meet, winning the opening 200-medley relay. The squad of Andy Huang, Matthew Lou, Brian Lee, and Zion James clocked in with a time of 1:29.96 to beat Yale’s top team by less than a second.
In the third event of the afternoon, Columbia kept its foot on the gas as first year Zach Vasser came away with a huge victory in the 1000-free. He finished with a time of 9:21.97 with three Yale swimmers right behind him.
Adam Wu continued his run of success for the Lions, winning two more events. He took first place in the 200-fly with a time of 1:49.12, and then went on to win the 500-free later in the afternoon with a time of 4:23.12.
Stanford Li also had a massive day for the Lions, collecting two victories along the way. First, he continued his success in the 200-back with a first-place finish and time of 1:48.17. Later, he dominated the 200-IM, taking first with a time of 1:49.58 which clinched the team victory for Columbia.
Other event winners included Isaac Beers (100-back, 49.39), Joshua Corn (200-breast, 2:00.56), and Brian Lee (100-fly, 48.48).
As for the divers, Joseph Nicol made his season debut on the boards. He finished third in the 1m with a score of 275.55 and fifth in the 3m with a score of 235.13
“Joe is coming back from an injury and our plan was to complete very simple dives as part of his rehabilitation,” Head Diving Coach Scott Donie said. “He was feeling good during the second event so we went for a high degree of difficulty dive and it paid off. Really inspiring and character building when you see something like that.”
Full results from the meet, including all of the Lions’ top performers and times, can be found HERE.
Columbia will look to make it two wins in a row on Friday when the Harvard Crimson will make the trip to New York City. The meet is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.
Courtesy: Yale Athletics
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yale men’s swimming and diving team fell to Columbia 158-140 in its season and Ivy League opener.
First year Deniel Nankov won three events for the Bulldogs – the 50 (20.28), 100 (44.55) and 200 (1:38.03) freestyles. Fellow first year Charlie Egeland captured the 100 breaststroke in 54.75.
Yale was dominant in the diving events. Jean Paul Ditto, Maks Sawoniewicz, Ray Wipfli and Nicholas Chau were the top four finishers in the 3-meter diving, while Chau and Ditto were first and second, respectively, off the 1-meter board.
The Bulldogs 400 freestyle relay team of Nankov, Ben Meulemans, Marcus Hodgson and Alexander Hazlett finished first in 2:59.61.
Next for Yale is the SMU Invitational starting on Thursday.
“The competition today brought out the best in both teams. We are proud of the way the team battled throughout the meet,” said Jim Henry, the Robert J.H. Kiphuth Head Coach of Yale Swimming and Diving. “Hats off to the divers for another strong performance. We have improved across all events over the last three meets, and are looking forward to taking the momentum from this meet into the SMU Invite next week in Dallas.”