Eight Columbia Pool Records Fall As Princeton Tigers Men Defeat Lions

Princeton vs. Columbia (M)

• November 15, 2024
• Uris Natatorium — New York, NY
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Score: Princeton, 168 def. Columbia, 132
• Full Results

The Princeton men have started this season with a bang. Traveling to the Upper West Side to face the Columbia Lions, the Tigers took down five Columbia pool records as they defeated the Lions 168 to 132. This comes a week after freshman Patrick Dinu and junior Mitchell Scott broke program records in Princeton’s season-opening tri-meet.

In total, eight Uris pool records fell, as the Lions broke three pool records of their own to add to the Tigers’ five.

The Tigers started rolling in the first event, as Yanning Zhang (21.92), Dinu (24.55), Logan Noguchi (20.96), and Brett Feyerick (19.51) swam 1:26.94 to break the pool record by 2.22 seconds. The top two relays were faster than the pool record, with junior Zion James notably splitting 18.96 on Columbia’s second-place ‘A’ relay (1:27.01). James led off Columbia’s 200 freestyle relay at the 2024 Men’s Ivy League Championships, but this split is markedly faster than his 200 medley relay anchor from the last postseason, where he split 19.28.

The pool record was once again on the line in the 200 freestyle. Dinu flipped first with over a second lead on Columbia’s Adam Wu and Gian Santos. But the Romanian freshman faded on the final 50 yards, allowing both Wu and Santos to go by him. Wu touched in 1:35.46, breaking the pool record and going 1-2 with the freshman Santos (1:35.48). The swim marks Santos’ first sub-1:36 swim, dropping 1.37 seconds from his best.

Dinu collected third place in the 200 freestyle with a personal best of 1:35.91 in his first time swimming the event. He rallied later in the meet to win the 100 freestyle in 42.91, four-tenths from the program record of 42.51 he posted last week. The time broke Dean Farris’ pool record of 43.44.

Pool records fell in the next three events—the 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, and 200 butterfly. Zhang earned another pool record for Princeton in the 100 backstroke, swimming 47.13. That’s his second lifetime best in the 100 back in as many meets—last week, he set his standard at 47.21. Then, Columbia senior Demirkan Demir took down the 100 breaststroke pool record with a 52.65.

Schott made it three pool records in as many events with a 1:42.22 in the 200 butterfly. It’s a huge lifetime best for Schott, whose previous best stood at 1:47.01 from the 2022 Big Al Invitational. He now ranks second in program history in this event, a week after breaking his school record in the 200 free (1:32.78).

Schott also won the 500 free with a dominant 4:22.17, leading a Princeton 1-2 finish.

Columbia’s Joshua Corn earned the last individual pool record of the meet in the 200 breaststroke. He clocked a 1:55.85, pulling away from Princeton freshman Andrew Zou on the last 50 yards with a 29.77 final split. That’s Corn’s best time in a Columbia cap; his lifetime best is 1:55.19 from March 2023, before he arrived in New York City.

The Tigers closed the meet with a final pool record. Schott, Zhang, Noguchi, and Dinu swam 2:54.26 to crack the pool record and put a bow on their win over the Lions.

Other Event Winners:

• Zach Vasser collected Columbia’s first event win of the meet, taking the 1000 freestyle in 9:03.87.
• James won the 50 freestyle in 19.81, nearing his lifetime best of 19.67 from the 2023 Men’s Ivy League Championships
• Parker Lencoe took the 200 backstroke for Princeton, hitting a season-best of 1:45.76, improving from his time last week by 1.50 seconds.
• After taking second to James in the 50 freestyle, Noguchi won the 100 fly in 47.79.
• Santos, a Columbia freshman, passed Princeton senior Max Seidel on the final 50 of the 200 IM with a 25.41 free split to win in 1:48.58. That’s another big PB for Santos, eclipsing the 1:50.45 he swam back in March.