Columbia men’s swimming and diving team celebrated their seniors on Friday night at Uris Pool in New York City, and those seniors put on quite a show, leading the Lions to a 168-132 victory over Princeton. According to a pre-meet interview with senior David Jakl, the Lions were starting their taper and aiming to break records in their last home contest. “These next two meets will be really exciting for us because this is usually when we go our best times of the season and when most of the pool records start going down.” As it turns out, nearly every Lion gave season-best performances.
It was seniors Jakl, Stanley Wong, and Alex Ngan who provided three quarters of the spark to the Columbia 200 medley relay team that edged Princeton in the opening event, 1:29.59 to 1:259.87. Jakl was out in 22.54 to put the Lions in front and each successive teammate outswam his opposing Tiger. After Jakl, Wong went 25.42, freshman Kevin Frifeldt clocked a 22.01, and Ngan brought it home in 19.62.
The first pool record to fall, however, went to Princeton’s Teo D’Alessandro. D’Alessandro set a new mark by 1.5 seconds when he won the 400 IM in 3:54.80; teammate Sam Smiddy (3:56.86) finished just behind. Senior Kevin Quinn of Columbia came in third at 3:58.36.
Jakl broke the only other record in his last individual event at Uris Pool. In winning the 100 fly he lowered his previous pool mark (48.41) by .33 when he touched at 48.08. Teammates Quinn (49.76) and Terri Li (49.80) were second and third. Jakl went out in his last home meet a double winner: he was first in the 200 fly, as well, hitting the wall in 1:47.61. Princeton’s Corey Okubo (1:48.33) and Oliver Bennett (1:51.70) rounded out that podium. Li picked up a win in the 200 free, holding off Princeton’s Julian Mackrel, 1:40.95 to 1:41.15.
Seniors Quinn and Ngan also scored big points for the Lions. In addition to his 400 IM and 200 fly finishes, Quinn added a win in the 200 back, going 1:48.12. Ngan swept the sprint frees. He won the 50 in 20.46 and the 100 in 44.85. Princeton’s Alexander Lewis (21.00) and Sandy Bole (45.21) were runners-up in the respective events.
Jayden Pantel opened the score for the Lions with a win in 3-meter diving. He finished with 356.25 points ahead of senior Micah Rembrandt (340.50). Nathan Makarewicz led the Tigers’ efforts with 315.83 points. Michael Manhard of Princeton robbed Pantel of a double by winning the 1-meter board with 315.75 points.
Other Columbia victories came from Joseph Lozano (2:04.48 in the 200 breast) and Jae Park (4:31.32 in the 500 free).
Princeton got a few wins over the course of the meet. Connor Maher had a spectacular 50.57 to 50.58 victory over Columbia’s Michael Fox-Moles in the 100 back; Byron Sanborn came from behind to win the 100 breast with 56.85 over Columbia’s Codi Saunders (57.08); and Liam Karas won the 200 IM in 1:51.76, coming in ahead of teammate Marco Bove (1:52.84).
Columbia improved its record to 8-2 (4-2 in the Ivy League), while Princeton ended its season 7-4 (5-2 Ivy League).
Final Scores
Columbia University 168 – 132 Princeton University
I’m not that knowledgeable about the Ivy League swimming, but would this be considered an upset? Or not, because Columbia already started their taper? I thought Harvard and Princeton were the teams to beat.