Suckow Makes Ivy League History As Columbia Conquers Cornell

Columbia vs Cornell (M)

• Saturday, January 29, 2022
• New York, NY
• Results
• Score: Columbia 167, Cornell 133

Courtesy: Columbia Athletics

NEW YORK — Junior diver Jonathan Suckow became the first Ivy League diver in conference history to compete the 109C, doing so en route to winning the three and one meter events as Columbia defeated Cornell SCORE at Percy Uris Natatorium. The pool and program record holder in both events remains undefeated on the season. Classmate Nick Leavell placed second off both boards, breaking the 300-point barrier twice.

“Today we had a good result,” noted Head Coach Jim Bolster. “We mixed up our lineup a lot; it was great seeing our athletes swim different events and I’m sure they enjoyed doing so while coming away with the win. This will help our strategy moving forward as we head towards the Ivy League and ECAC Championships. Overall everyone put forth a great effort and today was a good day!”

First-year Kyle Won led the Lions from the pool, touching the wall first in 100 back (49.71) and 100 free (46.37). Classmate Joshua Cho claimed second in the 100 back (51.27).

Columbia claimed the opening 200 medley relay in 1:31.68 as sophomore Andy Huang swam the opening leg followed by rookie Demirkan Demir, and senior Jonas Kistorp, and anchor Albert Gwo made up the 200 medley.

The Lions swept the 200 free as Stanford Li took first in 1:41.60. Demir followed fractions of a second later (1:41.62) while sophomore Seung Joon Ahn took third. Li repeated as champion in the 200 back, winning the event in 1:50.45.

First-year Tristan Pragnell recorded his first collegiate win in the 500 free, touching the wall in 4:38.19. Meanwhile, senior David Wang won the 200 breast (2:03.22).

Gwo earned an individual win, pacing the 50 free (20.97) ahead of teammate Hayden Liu (21.24).

Over 400 miles away, senior diver Michelle Lee completed at the Western Pennsylvania Invite earning an NCAA zone-qualifying score of 236.70 in the platform event.

“This was an absolute clutch performance when she needed it most,” noted Dive Coach Scott Donie. “We decided to take a risk and added this meet to our schedule less than 48 hours ago and she delivered. This was a true testament to her character/”

For the latest on the Columbia men’s swimming and diving program, follow @CULionsMSD on Instagram and Twitter, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.

Courtesy: Cornell Athletics

NEW YORK – Cornell men’s swimming and diving freshmen Joseph Gurski and Sebastian Wolff both emerged victorious not once, but twice, in the Big Red’s meet at Columbia on Friday, Jan. 28 at the Percy Uris Natatorium. Although Cornell (1-7, 0-7 Ivy) ultimately fell to the Lions (3-5, 3-3 Ivy) by a score of 167-133, the Big Red had numerous strong performances, collecting six individual event wins on the day.

Gurski and Wolff accounted for four of the Big Red’s six individual victories, with Gurski sweeping the butterfly events after clocking in first in the 100 (49.09) and 200 butterfly (1:49.42). Wolff’s two victories came in the 100 breaststroke (56.25) and 200 IM (1:52.54). He had company in the 200 IM, as Wolff spearheaded a Cornell 1-2-3 sweep in the event, with Ricardo Martinez finishing second in 1:54.61 and Jacob Bass placing third in 1:54.65.

Bass collected three top-three individual finishes against the Lions, with his best showing coming in the 200 breaststroke where he placed second with a time of 2:03.88. He also added a third-place performance in the 100 breaststroke (57.77).

Jake Lawson found success in the 1,000 freestyle on Friday, as the senior won the event after touching the wall in 9:34.74. Lawson finished second in the 500 freestyle (4:40.25) as well, with Vlad Gilszmer placing one spot behind in third (4:42.90).

The Big Red’s final victory of the day came in the 400 freestyle relay, where Lawson joined Pearce Bailey, Will Taner, and Dominic Edwards to swim a winning time of 3:05.29. Bailey exceled in his individual events as well, finishing second in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.49.

Cornell tallied a trio of top-three finishes in the backstroke events, highlighted by a second-place showing in the 200 backstroke by Taylan Ercan (1:50.68). In the 100 backstroke, Logan Holt and Paige daCosta finished in a deadlock for third, both completing the race in 51.54.

Seniors Jameson Crandell and Ian Mackey both turned in notable performances on the day, with Crandell placing third in both the 1-meter (295.50) and 3-meter (280.95) diving events. Mackey added a third-place finish in the 50 freestyle (21.32).

In what is a busy weekend for the Big Red, the Cornell men’s swimming and diving team will be back at it this afternoon when it takes on Binghamton in a nonconference bout to round out the dual season at 1 p.m. at the Patricia A. Saunders Aquatic Center in Vestal.