The men's team also celebrated a victory over Davidson Saturday afternoon, 162-126, though the meet counted only as a practice meet in the standings.

''This is the first time we've actually had a competition this early in the year,'' said Men's Head Swimming Coach Jim Bolster. ''There's a league rule you're not allowed to have the first dual meet competition prior to the last football Saturday. But if you call it a scrimmage, you can?I thought it was good for us.''

The men's team battled it out all afternoon against the Wildcats, a team it had never faced before. Although the Lions emerged from the competition having won only eight of 16 events, they managed to finish in first or second place in every race but two (the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke). 

Top performances included Arpad Sebe's 1:45.53 in the 200-yard freestyle; Matt Schultz's 48.05 seconds 100-yard freestyle; Scott Ingram's 21.76 triumph in the 50-yard freestyle; Nick Clements's 4:48.30 in the 500-yard freestyle; and Mike P. Lee's exciting 4:16.16 in the 400-yard individual medley, which was ahead of Davidson's Tom Murphy by a fraction of a second. 

The Lions' team of Ingram, Mike MacLusky, Reid Evans, and Charles Catanach was also able to score a victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay with an impressive 1:26.40, over four seconds ahead of the first Davidson team to come in.

''There were not really too many kids swimming their top event,'' admitted Bolster. ''We tried to mix it up, diversify the lineup a little bit, so that we could maybe see some people in [their] second or third events [and] give them a chance to swim some races they might not be able to swim again until the championship. Our regular dual meet season is such that we don't really get a chance to play around with our lineup too much.''

''[There were] no surprises,'' he continued. ''Just some good solid performances by some kids that reaffirm what I felt all along, especially about the freshman class. There is a lot of talent, and if they have the right attitude, can stay healthy, and keep coming to practice, then they'll do really well.''

Since the meet was a preseason scrimmage, Davidson did not even bring a men's diving team to the meet.

Therefore, divers Mark Fichera and Scott Troob were playing for personal bests. Fichera, a senior, beat the first-year Troob in both events, with a score of 322.425 off the one-meter board and 289.90 off the three-meter.

The women divers, who faced Davidson opponents, swept the Wildcats in both events. Rachel Flax's score of 224.025 gave her the one-meter, and Meredith Collins's 220.65 took the 3-meter. This was a significant improvement over the previous day's performances in New Haven, where no one finished over third.

Women's Head Coach Diana Caskey thought the entire weekend was a positive experience. 

''We swam very well at both meets,'' Caskey said. ''But of course it's more fun to come out on the victorious side of things? We swam fast and with confidence in back-to-back meets. 

It set a very positive tone for the upcoming meets. It was good to race competition other than ourselves to find out where we stand. We like what we saw.''

Yale's strong team defeated the women's team in many races, but Columbia did manage to win a few, thanks to first-years Emily Seidman, Christina Kubacki, Jessica Braun, and Meredith Dunn. The four swimmers began the evening with a close victory in the 200-yard medley relay. Seidman took the 100- and 200-yard backstroke with respective times of 59.76 and 2:04.98. 

Braun squeaked by in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, at 24.07 and 53.47 seconds, respectively. Kubacki took the 100-yard butterfly in 58.69 seconds.

''The first-years have been doing a dynamic job in terms of training thus far,'' said Caskey. ''But many of them raced better than I even expected?and my expectations were high.''

Perhaps the Bulldogs' drubbing of Columbia propelled the Lions to dominate the Wildcats less than 24 hours later, when they dropped just two events to Davidson. Columbia held on to first and second place in both relays: the 200-yard medley led by Alissa Mathis, Dunn, Kubacki, and Braun and the 200-yard freestyle by Braun, Marie Lehner, Kubacki, and Seidman. 

Seidman also was the victor in the 200-yard backstroke (2:08.16) and finished over 10 seconds in front of the runner-up in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:36.16). Braun snatched away the 100-yard backstroke (59.27) and the 100-yard freestyle (52.67) for herself, and Dunn took the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.88). 

Sophomore Lucy Eccleston found success in the 200-yard butterfly (2:08.77), the 100-yard butterfly (59.18), and the 200-yard individual medley (2:12.03). First-year Becky Dunlap was the winner in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:27.95). 

To close the meet, senior Katie Lynch won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.82 seconds. 

The women's team hopes it can continue its success at Harvard next Sunday. ''We've been doing a great job,'' said Caskey. ''And Cristina's legacy lives on in the focus and determination of the current group.''

The men will also be journeying to Harvard on Friday to take on the Crimson and Army.