NEW YORK — Columbia women's swimming and diving claimed its third-straight Ivy League dual meet victory, defeating Brown, 159-141, at Percy Uris Natatorium on Friday evening.
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The meet served as Senior Day for Columbia's seven seniors:
Jessica Antiles,
Mary Ashby,
Seanna Barrett,
Miriyam Ghali,
Arianna Noya,
Maureen Rakovec and
Kim Yang.
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"The team came out with a lot of energy which helped us build up an early advantage," said head coach
Diana Caskey. "It was a very competitive meet, and we're very excited to send our seniors out at home with a win."
"I would also like to say a special thank you to Barnard President Sian Beilock for being a part of our Senior Day ceremony," added Caskey. "Her support means a lot to our program and student-athletes."
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The Lions got out to a fast start as Columbia's divers turned in the top three scores in the opening 3-meter springboard event. First-year
Briget Rosendahl took the crown with a score of 274.66, followed by senior
Kim Yang (247.73) and first-year
Michelle Lee (245.33).
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"The divers set the tone for the meet right from the start with a clean sweep of 3-meter," said diving coach
Scott Donie. "Great performances all around, especially by our first-years. Congrats to seniors
Kim Yang and
Seanna Barrett on amazing careers."
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In the opening swimming event, the Lions took first and second in the 200-yard medley relay. Columbia's quartet of junior
Lisa Zhang, junior
Helen Wojdylo, first-year
Kasey Karkoska and first-year
Claire Lin turned in the winning time of 1:44.27.
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From there, the two teams traded individual swimming wins for the first half of the meet, but Columbia held onto an 87-63 lead at the halfway point.
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Senior
Mary Ashby had a phenomenal showing, lowering her own Uris Pool record in the 50 freestyle to 22.94. She went on to also win the 100 free, going 50.08.
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Rosendahl helped the Lions string together its first back-to-back individual event wins of the night, winning her second event of the night on 1-meter (260.33) to follow up Ashby's pool-record swim. Lee took second (251.11) on 1-meter.
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Sophomore
Jessica He helped the Lions along by winning a pair of events. She claimed the 200 free (1:51.96) title early in the meet before bringing home the 500 free with a time of 5:04.51.
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Needing just seven points to secure the team win, Antiles did what she does best and raced ahead for the 200 individual medley win, touching the wall in 2:03.33.
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To cap off the night, Columbia recorded second and third place showings in the 400 free relay.
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The Lions will have a few weeks break before their final dual meet of the season, traveling to face Dartmouth on Saturday, Feb. 2 at noon ET.
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For the latest on the Columbia women's swimming and diving program, followÂ
@CULadySwim on Twitter and Instagram,Â
@ColumbiaDiving on Instagram and on the web atÂ
GoColumbiaLions.com.
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