By MOLLY KELLEHER
Spectator Staff Writer
 
 

Pool records and personal bests prevailed on Saturday, though the men¹s swimming team lost to Brown, 160-140. It was an afternoon of fast races, excellent dives, and a consistent team effort, but to no avail. In a meet where the leading team switched places after nearly every event, Brown was barely able to squeeze by the Lions.

Still using the momentum from last weekend¹s 124-117 win over Pennsylvania, the Lions (5-5, 2-5 Ivy League) were optimistic about beating Brown. Even though they knew of Brown¹s great talent, the athletes still believed they had something to prove to the league and to themselves.

And proving themselves is what the Lions do best.

First-year Peter Armstrong had a season-best time of 1:53.60 in the 200-yard butterfly, contributing to the first, second, and third place sweep of that event with fellow Lions, sophomore Peter Leong, and first-year K.J. Klein, respectively.

Klein said he was especially excited about his career-best time in the 200-yard butterfly and expressed his happiness with being able to contribute to such a strong Lion performance.

Armstrong also earned season best times, and third- and fourth-place finishes in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly.

Junior Gered Doherty now holds the pool record in the 100-yard butterfly, with a time of 50.92 seconds.

Sophomore Joe Zdrillic, who is recovering from the flu, contributed to the 200 medley and the 200 freestyle-winning relay teams, along with sophomore Matt Schultz, senior co-captain Shareef Khaleel, and Doherty. Zdrillic also swam well in the 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard freestyle, earning second place in both events.

These and many other stellar individual performances really demonstrated to the Lions the type of quality talent they have on their team. With the end of the season closing in, and Easterns not far away, the athletes can only be encouraged and happily surprised by their good performances.

³I don¹t think many guys on the team truly believed we could come out and give Brown a run like we did,² Doherty said, ³but once again we proved to ourselves that we¹re a lot stronger team than we think. With every meet we learn something else as a team I guess.²

The Columbia divers were also challenged in their portion of the meet. Brown is home to two of the stronger divers in the Ivies, Zach Casavant and Mike Johns. The Lions proved themselves to be great divers and focused competitors.

On the one-meter board, both sophomore Mark Fichera and junior Daniel Brown earned career best scores of 312.30 and 311.175, respectively. Fichera and Brown claimed the first and second places in both the one-meter and the three-meter events, with first-year Stu Machir earning two fifth place finishes.

³We dove really consistently and refused to miss dives,² Brown said. ³To go 1-2 against the Brown team was a big step in our season and I think we have proved ourselves to be a big force in the league.²

Both the swimmers and the divers proved something to themselves this weekend, if not to the rest of the Ivy League. ³There were many great performances, and the meet certainly was not a loss on all counts,² first-year Jason Reichard said.

As the Lions prepare for their last regular season meet versus Navy at home on Feb. 20, and finally the Easterns Championships, the first weekend of March, they hope that their confidence will continue to grow.