The Bulldogs hosted Columbia on Saturday at Robert J. H. Kiphuth Exhibition Pool in New Haven to kick off their Ivy League dual season. Yale had lost to Columbia last season by only six points and were looking for revenge. They got it: Yale won with a resounding 174-126. Full results here.
Columbia came fast out of the chutes, going 1-2 in the 3-meter diving (freshman Jayden Pantel, 345.75 points; Micah Rembrandt, 309.75) and winning the 200 medley relay. Michael Fox-Moles (24.19) Stanley Wong, (25.62), David Jakl (21.31), and Alex Ngan (19.78) went 1:30.90 ahead of Yale’s Shawn Nee (23.92), Andrew Heymann (25.45), Alwin Firmansyah (22.24), and Oscar Miao (19.94), who touched in 1:33.55.
Yale’s 1-2-3 finish in the 1000 free (behind freshman Kei Hyogo’s 9:03.45) erased Columbia’s lead, though, and the Bulldogs remained in control through the rest of the meet.
The 200 free featured an excellent battle among Rob Harder (1:39.84) and Jonathan Rutter (1:40.09) of Yale and Columbia’s Terry Li (1:40.28). It was followed by another exciting race in which Jakl came from behind to win the 100 back (negative-splitting a 49.37 in 24.70-24.67) and touched out Yale’s Nee (49.91) and Kevin Stang (50.26). Jakl later won the 100 fly, tying the Kiphuth Pool record with a NCAA “B” time of 48.08.
The 100 breast was close, too, but only between three Bulldogs: Heymann (56.51), Derek Kao (56.72), and Ronald Tsui (56.86). Yale’s Firmansyah picked up the first NCAA “B” cut of the day with a 1:47.60 win in the 200 fly. Columbia’s Kevin Quinn finished second in 1:48.45.
The Bulldogs split the sprint frees with the Lions. Ngan of Columbia edged Victor Zhang of Yale, 20.66 to 20.91 in the 50, while Zhang came from behind to earn the win over Ngan in the 100, 45.42 to 45.53. In 1-meter diving, once again Columbia’s Pantel (318.59) and Rembrandt led the field.
The 200 back and 200 breast gave the hosts another opportunity to run up the score, as they finished 1-2-3 in both events. In the back, Nee’s 1:48.07 led the Bulldogs’ charge, while in the breast it was Heymann (2:01.79) who just edged out Rutter (2:01.91).
Hyogo won his second distance race of the day with a 4:29.86 in the 500 free. Jae Park of Columbia held off Heymann’s strong finish to take the 200 IM, 1:51.40 to 1:51.44. The 400 free relay featured another exciting finish, but by then the outcome was no longer in doubt. Jakl (45.66), Kevin Frifeldt (45.67), Codi Saunders (46.51), and Ngan (44.82) went 3:02.66 to Zhang (45.67), Oscar Miao (45.62), Brian Hogan (46.27), and Harder (45.25)’s 3:02.81.
Final Score:
Yale University 174 – 126 Columbia University