By MOLLY KELLEHER
Spectator Staff Writer

Dominance is hard to forget.

As the Columbia Men's Swimming and Diving Program looks back on the 1998-99 season, there will be many memories of good times and personal records. But the diving team won't be forgotten for a long time.

During the regular season there was not a single team that outscored the Lion divers. Each meet meant a strong and consistent performance. Last weekend at the EISL Championships (Easterns), the divers performed better than any other diving team in recent Columbia history.

For Head Diving Coach Gordon Spencer, he and his divers accomplished a lot of firsts. In his 16-year coaching career, he had his first Eastern Champion, sophomore Mark Fichera on the one-meter.

It was the first time Spencer sent more than one person to the finals. Junior Daniel Brown and first-year Stu Machir joined Fichera in the one-meter board finals, earning seventh and eighth places, respectively. Fichera and Brown also made it to the finals on the three-meter board, earning second and eighth, respectively. Machir missed the finals by only one place, finishing ninth. Machir was also Spencer's first first-year student athlete in the finals.

Spencer also earned the title of EISL Diving Coach of the Year, for the first time. Basking in the glow of such a successful season, Spencer was quick to give the credit to his athletes. 

"All athletes want to excel and I just try to keep the atmosphere positive," Spencer said. "The camaraderie of these guys was integral to them doing really well all season. They really supported each other and it gave me wonderful cues on how to throw in my two cents worth."

To achieve this success, these athletes and Spencer worked to accomplish their goal. Brown gives equal credit to his coach as Spencer did to his athletes.

"Our team has done superb all season and the fact that we all were Easterns finalists shows a lot about our talent, depth, and incredible coaching," Brown said. "Gordon deserved Coach of the year this Year. He led us to an undefeated season and an incredibly strong showing at Easterns."

The swimming and diving team finished sixth overall this season, finishing with a regular season record of 5-6 overall and 2-5 in the Ivy League. The swimmers performed better this year as well, even though the team did not improve on last year's sixth place finish. 

The young Lions experienced a lot of growth and personal best swims over the season. With a large number of first-year swimmers, the Lions proved to be a very competitive team in the Ivy League.

"I was surprised at how well we did at Easterns as a team," junior Gered Doherty said. "I didn't expect us to do very well as a team because we had so many freshman on the Easterns team [who were inexperienced at that level of competition]. As our coaches tell us, ÔIt's all about experience.'"

The first-year swimmers did very well despite their inexperience. Peter Armstrong was the only first-year to make it to the finals this year, finishing sixth in the 200-yard butterfly. His experience at Easterns was unlike any he'd experienced before.

"There was a huge crowd and they were loud," Armstrong said. "When I got paraded out for finals I could not hear anything but everyone screaming, the atmosphere was electric."

In a very exciting race Doherty tied for first place in the 100-yard freestyle. He also earned 3rd place in the 50-yard freestyle and sixth place in the 100-yard butterfly. The 200-yard medley relay with sophomore Matt Schultz, senior co-captain Sharif Khaleel, Doherty, and finished in second place. The same relay team finished third in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

All in all, the team seemed satisfied with their performance at Easterns and in the regular season. Amidst a few regrets, mostly good memories remain.

"If I had to do the season all over again," first-year Jason Reichard said. "I think the only things I would change would be our losses into wins, because that would have had a large effect on how our overall record turned out."

The general consensus seems that the most memorable meet of the season was Columbia's win over their long-time rival the University of Pennsylvania.

"The best meet had to be the Super Bowl of swimming against Penn," first-year Jeff Klein said.

Most importantly, the swimmers will remember the experiences they had as a team, from team dinners to first-year initiation to the Hawaii training trip and of course, the bonding that happens to a team that goes through such an intense season.

"I think that once again the team bonded really well right at the very end," Schultz said. "I am really going to miss this team, but hey, that's life."