NEW YORK – The Columbia men's swimming & diving team were dominant in its season home opener on Friday, Nov. 3 against Army (1-0). The Lions won 14 of 16 events on the way to a 168-129 win, its fifth consecutive at Uris Pool dating back to a 4-0 record last season.
A monumental start by first-year diver Jonathan Suckow highlighted the afternoon at Uris Pool. In his first collegiate meet, Suckow set a new program record in the three-meter en route to sweeping the boards. A score of 420.83 in the three-meter dive set a new Uris Pool and program record, surpassing the previous record of 410.70 set by teammate Jayden Pantel last season. He returned for a winning performance in the one-meter dive with a score 398.10
Pantel followed with a pair of runner-up performances, including second-place score of 363.60 in the three-meter dive and a score of 324.60 in the one-meter dive. Shinya Kondo completed the Lions 3M sweep with a third-place score of 276.68.
The squad of Cole Stevens, Jae Park, Kevin Frifeldt and Mark Gullick set the winning tone in the Lions first swimming event with a victory in the 200 medley relay. The tandem clocked in with a combined time of 1:30
Nian-guo Liu grabbed the first indivudial win in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:27.91, with Brian Tsau adding third-place points at 9:45.85. Michal Zyla and Adam Osowski put together another 1-3 punch in the 200 freestyle with Zyla leading the way at 1:39.16 and Osowski at 1:43.32. Cole Stevens clocked in at 50.54 to win the 100 backstroke, along with a third-place showing from Joseph Skimmons at 51.27.
Leading a 1-2-3 Columbia sweep in the 100 breaststroke was Jae Park who hit the wall in a winning time of 56.04. Eric Tong placed second at 56.19, followed by Jack Smith in 56.92. Zach Pear edged teammate Shane Brett (1:51.82) to win the 200 butterfly at 1:50.70. The fastest event of the afternoon belonged to Kevin Frifeldt who picked up the first-place finish in the 500 freestyle with a time of 20:34. Hank Gullick earned a runner-up finish in the event at 20.91.
Park added his second victory of the day in the 200 backstroke with a top-time of 1:50.98, following win by first-year Albert Gwo in the 100 freestyle at 44.74. Joseph Lozano reached out to touch the wall first in the 200 breaststroke at 2:05.28 and Jack Scanolo earned hist first victory in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:36.00.
Closing the afternoon in the final individual event was Shan Brett delivering the top time in the 200 I.M. at 1:54.06, edging teammate Cole Stevens at 1:55.36. The squad of Kevin Dang, Zach Pear, Joe Skimmons and Erek Cox combined for a runner-up time of 3:07.96 in the 400 free relay to cap the day.
Up next, the Lions return to Uris Pool tomorrow to host Penn at 1 pm in their Ivy League opener.
