WEST POINT, N.Y. — In their first outing of the season, the Columbia men's swimming and diving team took down the Army Black Knights, 166-134, at Crandall Pool on Friday night.
 
"It was a good test for the guys," said Columbia head coach Jim Bolster following the win. "Army always swims us well, they're very competitive and the score is probably not quite as indicative of how close some of the races were. But we had a good day, good start to the season."
 
The victory marks the fourth-straight win in the series for the Lions, who will turn right around to open the Ivy League season against Penn tomorrow at home at 1 p.m. ET.
 
"It was a good performance all the way around and I think the guys were happy," added Bolster. "We saw some good things that should help us as we move along to the Ivy portion of our season. Our next three meets are against three of the best teams in Penn, Yale and Harvard, so we're excited about tomorrow's meet with Penn. Should be a very good meet."
 
Senior Nian-guo Liu was a standout for Columbia in the outing, winning top honors in both the 100-yard freestyle (44.38) and the 200 free (1:38.18), while also swimming on both of the Lions' winning relay teams. Liu teamed up with senior Cole Stevens, sophomore Jonas Kistorp and first-year Eugene Li to win the 200 medley relay (1:30.68) and combined with Li, Kistorp and Kevin Dang to win the 200 free relay in 1:22.70.  
 
Aside from Liu, the Lions saw a host of individual winners and Columbia earned wins in nine of 16 events overall.
 
Freshman Ray Yang nabbed his first collegiate win in the outing, touching first in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:49.43 ahead of senior Zac Pear (1:50.00) who placed second in the event. Junior transfer Baptiste Leger also swam his way to his first win for the Blue and White, winning the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:47.78.
 
The Lions also used triumphs from senior Cole Stevens in the 100 back (49.76), junior Albert Gwo in the 50 free (20.36) and sophomore Jonas Kistorp in the 100 fly (49.38) to secure the season-opening win.
 
On the diving side, senior Shinya Kondo was Columbia's top finisher on the 1-meter springboard placing second with a 262.73, while first-year Ben Blizard placed second on 3-meter with a score of 319.05.
 
"We definitely have some work to do, but I am really happy with how the men did today," said diving coach Scott Donie. "Particularly impressed with Ben's 3-meter performance in his first collegiate competition."
 
Hosting Penn on Saturday, the meet will mark the first in a three-meet home stretch for Columbia at Uris Natatorium.
 
For the latest on the Columbia men's swimming and diving program, follow @ColumbiaMenSwim on Twitter, @ColumbiaMenSwimming and @ColumbiaDiving on Instagram, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.