Lions Down Dartmouth, Earn Fourth-Straight Win in Dual Finale

Friday, February 1

Hanover, N.H.

5:00 P.M.

Columbia University

182

115

Dartmouth

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

Lions Down Dartmouth, Earn Fourth-Straight Win in Dual Finale

2/1/2019 9:01:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving

Results (PDF)2018-19 Schedule

Columbia ended its dual season with a 181-115 victory over Dartmouth on Friday evening

HANOVER, N.H. — The Columbia men's swimming and diving team closed its dual meet season in impressive fashion, taking down Dartmouth, 182-115, for its fourth-straight victory.

Winning 11 of the 16 events to grab the triumph, the Lions close the regular season with a 5-4 overall record, including a 3-4 mark in Ivy League meets.

"Had a good win," said head coach Jim Bolster. "We got going right from the start, and just slowly but surely pulled away. We went 1-2 in the first relay, Brian Tsau had a very good 1,000, and after that everything sort of fell into place. It was a good meet to end the dual meet season on, but the more important stuff is three weeks away so we'll turn our attention to that."

Posting the top two times in the opening 200 medley relay, the Lions set the stage for the rest of the meet. Columbia's 'A' team of Cole Stevens, Nian-Guo Liu, Jonas Kistorp and Albert Gwo recorded the winning time of 1:31.08 ahead of Hayden Liu, Pearce Kieser, Lexo Walker and Kevin Dang in 1:35.46.

Senior Brian Tsau was the first of nine different individual winners for the Lions on the night, winning the 1,000 free for the fourth-straight meet, coming into the wall in 9:28.81.

In the 100 backstroke, Stevens led a 1-2-3 finish after recording the top time of 51.11. Joseph Skimmons was second in 51.75 ahead of Hayden Liu at 53.65.

Nian-Guo Liu showed his versatility, winning the 100 breaststroke with a time of 56.56. Erek Cox was second in the event in 58.39.

The 50 free saw another 1-2-3 finish for Columbia, led by Gwo with a time of 20.61. Kistorp was second with a time of 21.61 ahead of Ji Ho Hyun at 21.80.

On the diving boards, Shinya Kondo was the Lions' top finisher on the evening, placing second on both springboards. On 1-meter, Kondo recorded an NCAA Zone qualifying score of 308.17. Kevin Fulton finished fourth on both boards.

"Shinya caps off his dual meet season with his best performance of the year and Kevin (Fulton) was particularly strong on 1-meter," said diving coach Scott Donie

Following the diving break, the Lions strung together three straight wins to stretch the lead. Kevin Dang won the 100 free with a time of 47.08, Joey Licht claimed the 200 back in 1:51.93 and Jonathan Cheng took the 200 breast in 2:09.78.

Walker earned the top spot in the 100 butterfly, going 51.38. William Tan capped off the individual racing with a win in the 200 IM, turning in a 1:53.57.

To finish off the evening, Columbia used the quartet of Mekal El Helou, Hyun, Cox and Walker to win the 200 free relay with a time of 1:25.39.

Columbia will begin the postseason later this month, traveling to Providence, Rhode Island, for the 2019 Ivy League Championships from Wednesday, Feb. 27 through Saturday, March 2.

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.