Columbia Readied for 2019 Ivy League Championships

Wednesday, February 27

Providence, R.I.

6 p.m.

Columbia University

Ivy League Championships (Day 1)

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike Kowalsky

Columbia Readied for 2019 Ivy League Championships

2/26/2019 3:12:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving

Live Results Psych Sheet Schedule of Events Championship Central

The Lions are set to begin the postseason Wednesday evening at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center

NEW YORK — The Columbia men's swimming and diving team is set to begin the postseason this week, traveling to Providence, Rhode Island, for the 2019 Ivy League Men's Swimming & Diving Championships. The four-day meet will run from Feb. 27-March 2 at Brown's Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.

Action will kick off Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET with the 200 medley and 800 free relay finals. From Thursday to Saturday, preliminaries will begin at 11 a.m. each day, with finals commencing at 6 p.m.

Fan can catch all the action from both sessions Thursday-Saturday live on ESPN+, with live results available all week.

DUAL SEASON IN REVIEW
Ending the dual season on a four-meet win streak, the Lions wrapped up the schedule with a 5-4 overall mark, including 3-4 in Ivy League contests to finish fifth in the conference standings.

LOOKING BACK: 2018 IVIES
Last season saw the Lions finish fourth at the Ivy League Championships, where head coach Jim Bolster was named the 2018 Ivy League Coach of the Year.

Sophomore Jonathan Suckow returns after sweeping the Ivy diving titles to be named the Karl B. Michael High Point Diver of the Meet. Columbia also returns three swimmers who advanced to individual championship finals at the conference meet a season ago, including junior Cole Stevens (6th, 200-yard backstroke), senior Shane Brett (3rd, 200 butterfly; 5th, 400 IM; 8th, 200 IM) and junior Zach Pear (5th, 200 fly).

LIONS TO WATCH
Six different Lions across 15 different event entries are seeded in the top eight.

After making the podium in his three events a season ago, Brett is once again seeded in the top eight of the 200 IM, 200 fly and 200 IM. Led by a fourth-place seed in the 200 fly at 1:45.41, he is also slotted at No. 6 in the 400 (3:50.57) and No. 8 in the 200 IM (1:47.72).

Junior Nian-Guo Liu enters the week ranked in the top five in each of his three events, including third in the 200 free (1:35.75), fourth in the 100 free (43.77) and fifth in the 200 IM (1:47.46).

Sprinters Albert Gwo and Jonas Kistorp have made a tremendous pair this season, with both ranked in the top seven of the 50 free, 100 fly and 100 free. Sophomore Gwo comes in at No. 4 in the 50 free (19.77), No. 5 in the 100 free (43.93) and No. 6 in the 100 fly (47.66). First-year Kistorp is seeded third in the 100 fly (47.47), sixth in the 50 free (20.00) and seventh in the 100 free (44.02).

Rounding out the top eight seeds is Stevens, who enters the meet ranked third in the 100 back with a time of 47.96.

Columbia is also seeded fourth or higher in each relay.

PARKING
On campus parking is located in Lot 2 (limited) located off Hope Street; Lots 1, 89 and 90 located off Lloyd Avenue; and Lot 11, located off Brook Street. The campus lots are accessible to spectators Monday-Friday after 5:00 p.m., weekends and holidays. Parking in any of these lots is free of charge.

Spectators can park on surrounding streets such as Hope Street, Arlington Avenue, Lloyd Avenue, Bowen Street and Brook Street. Please be mindful of all posted parking restrictions and regulations that apply to surrounding streets.

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.