On a weekend where hair resembled Mohawks, checkerboards, and a few Columbia "C"s, the Lion men were fast in the water and solid on the diving boards, finishing the weekend with a 2-1 record.

Columbia defeated UMass (166-134) and Army (160-83) and lost to Harvard (155-88).

"The meet went very well," Head Coach Jim Bolster said. "I was actually surprised at how well we did."

Last year, the Lions lost to UMass in some very close races, and they barely edged Army partly due to a disqualification on Army's side. This year, the Lions solidly met their opening weekend goal of a 2-1 record.

The performances in this 2-1 start were good preparation for men's swimming's quest to improve on their 6th place finish at the Eastern Championships in the '97-'98 season.

The solid performance against UMass on Friday gave the Lions the good start they needed to go on to defeat Army, and to swim well against Harvard on Saturday.

In Friday's meet, sophomore Matt Schultz, sophomore Joe Zdrilic, junior Gered Doherty, and senior Sharif Khaleel started and ended the meet with wins in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. Their performances sandwiched strong outings by the entire team.

The first-years also clocked fast times, especially Jonathan Fischer, who won the 1000-yard freestyle; and Jason Reichard, who placed second in both the 1000- and 500-yard freestyle races. First-years Adam Reynolds, Jeff Klein, Peter Armstrong, and Matt O'Donnell also had impressive races in the butterfly events.

The upperclassmen, perhaps inspired by the enthusiasm of the first-years, also made good times. Schultz won the 100-yard backstroke and junior Peter Leong dominated both the 100- and the 200-yard butterfly events.

These solid races propelled the Lions to swim well on Saturday against Harvard as well.

"Swimming well is contagious," senior co-captain Chris Ferris said.

On Saturday, the Columbia men defeated Army in nearly every event.

"The Army meet might have gone down to the last relay, but we beat them well before then," Bolster said.

"It was awesome... I've been on the receiving end of some drubbings, and it feels good to be able to give some back," senior Chris Ferris said of the meet.

"We got off on the right foot, and [Army] couldn't really catch up to us," Doherty said. Doherty and Zdrilic added to Columbia's Army defeat with a first- and second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle race. The Columbia relays again dominated Army, as well as the long-distance freestylers and the butterfliers.

In the meet against nationally ranked Harvard, Columbia still challenged the Crimson, especially in the sprint freestyle races and the diving. Doherty, Schultz, and Zdrilic earned a couple of first and second places in the sprint races.

The diving team also had some outstanding performances this weekend. On Friday, they were a bit shaky, according to Coach Gordon Spencer.

"First meet jitters played a part [in their performance]," he said.

Those jitters quickly went away on Saturday. Divers junior Daniel Brown, sophomore Mark Fichera, and first-year Stu Machir earned first, second, and third places, respectively against Army in the one-meter and three-meter events. Against Harvard, they earned a first, third, and fourth place in the one meter event, and first, second and fourth in the three-meter event.

"We all dove really well and consistently as a team," Brown said. "It's rare for a dive team to be consistent."

The divers attribute much of their solid performance to the addition of the talented Machir.

"A third [diver] adds so many more points. Instead of going one and two, we can go one, two, and three," Fichera said.

This new talent adds so much to the team and they are looking forward to a great season.

"We were all feel fierce out there, and ferocity is the highest virtue in diving," Brown said.

This weekend showed the ferocity of both the swimming and diving teams, as they now look toward developing their young season.