The University of Pennsylvania Men’s Swimming and Diving Team brought out their A game on Friday night, soundly defeating Columbia at Sheerr Pool in Philadelphia.
This was the first time the seniors had taken part in a win over Columbia; the last three years’ victories have gone to the Lions. Penn’s freshman class played a major role in the win.
Penn started things off with a win in the 200 medley relay with Philip Hu, Kyle Yu, Rhoads Worster, and Eric Shultz (1:30.23). They finished nearly two seconds ahead of Columbia’s Michael Fox-Moles, Stanley Wong, David Jakl, and Alex Ngan.
Quaker sophomore Chris Swanson (9:22.52) and freshman Wes Thomas were the top distance swimmers of the night, going 1-2 in the 1000 and 1-3 in the 500. Columbia’s Jack Foster finished third in the 1000.
In the 200 free, Penn freshman Kevin Su touched ahead of Columbia freshman Terry Li, 1:40.87 to 1:41.96. The Quakers racked up additional points taking third and fourth with Konner Scott and Sam Ruddy.
Penn senior Worster won the 100 back in 49.95, ahead of Columbia’s Fox-Moles. Quakers Dillon McHugh and Hu went 3-4, adding to Penn’s early lead over Columbia.
Penn pulled off a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 breast: Yu (56.83) was followed by sophomore Bobby Francis and freshman Cole Hurwitz.
Columbia all-Ivy butterflyer Kevin Quinn took the 200 fly in 1:50.83. His teammate freshman Drew May was second. Penn’s Sam Haley was third.
Columbia closed the gap somewhat in the 50 free with a 1-2 finish from juniors Jakl (20.82) and Ngan (20.99). Penn’s Schultz was third, followed by teammates Alex Porter and Johnny Germanis.
Penn freshman diver Jack Stein won 3-meter diving with a score of 299.93. Columbia’s Derek Kim was second; Will Hartje of Penn was third.
Quaker sophomore Schultz (45.73) held off Ngan (Columbia, 45.99) and McHugh (Penn, 46.11) to win the 100 free.
Quinn’s second win came in the 200 back. This was likely the most exciting race of the night – it was certainly the closest with only two seconds separating first from sixth place. Quinn was sixth at the 100 but negative-split the race to finish .13 in front of his Columbia teammate Ben Xu, 1:51.22 to 1:51.35. Penn’s Hu was third.
The Penn breaststrokers proved too much for the Columbia Lions once again, as Yu (2:02.99), Hurwitz (2:03.87) and Brendan Crystal (2 05.80) went 1-2-3 to add more distance to the team score.
The 500 free belonged to Penn distance standout Chris Swanson. He finished in 4:32.82, solidly in front of freshmen Nikita Bondarenko of Columbia, and Thomas of Penn.
The Lions’ David Jakl, who was one the Ivy League’s swimmers at NCAAs, won the 100 fly in typical Jakl fashion by simply killing the second half. His 48.94 bested Penn’s Worster and Columbia’s Li and May.
In the 1-meter diving Penn’s Stein (286.50) and Hartje both finished ahead of Coumbia’s Kim.
Quaker freshman Michael Wen took the 200 IM, handily beating Columbia’s Traub 1:52.88 to 1:55.12. Traub had a tremendous finish to rob Penn’s Crystal of second place.
The final nail in the coffin came with the 400 free relay, where Penn’s Schultz, Porter, McHugh, and Worster finished four seconds ahead of Columbia’s Jakl, Li, Codi Saunders, and Ngan.
Final score: University of Pennsylvania 185 – Columbia University 113
