CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — It was a historic evening for Columbia men's swimming and diving as the Lions raced their way to victory in the 200-yard medley to open the 2020 Ivy League Championships at Harvard's Blodgett Pool on Wednesday evening. The feat marked the first time in which Columbia has won the event at the conference championships.
 
With the first evening of competition wrapped up, the Lions sit in second place in the team standings with 108 points.
 
Setting both Blodgett Pool and Columbia records, the Lions' quartet of senior Cole Stevens, senior Nian-Guo Liu, sophomore Jonas Kistorp and junior Albert Gwo combined for a gold-medal time of 1:25.46. The mark bested the previous program record of 1:26.61 by more than a full second, besting the standard set at last year's Ivy meet.
 
"I couldn't have asked for a better beginning," said Columbia head coach Jim Bolster. "That was a relay that we had talked about having a shot at winning and they did it. They were just spectacular. Cole Stevens got us off to a great start and that put us in great shape because we knew the next three legs were three of the strongest in the league, so if he put us close we were going to have a shot at it and he did a great job. It was a great way to start the meet and hopefully we can build on it."
 
After Stevens had the Lions in second with a 21.93 backstroke split, Liu put Columbia in front with a 24.19 breastroke split, the fastest among the field. Kistorp maintained with a 20.54, before Gwo fired off a blistering 18.80, which stood as the quickest freestyle split by more than half a second.
 
Columbia's grouping of senior Zac Pear (1:39.12), senior Kevin Dang (1:39.25), first-year Andy Lee (1:40.36) and sophomore Shawn Lou (1:40.01) ended the night with an eighth-place time of 6:38.74 in the 800 freestyle relay.
 
The Ivy League Championships continue Thursday, with the preliminary session kicking off at 11 a.m. ET and finals beginning at 6 p.m.
 
Fans can catch all the action live on ESPN+, with live results available here.
 
Team Scores
1. Harvard, 120
2. Columbia, 108
3. Brown, 104
3. Princeton, 104
5. Cornell, 102
6. Penn, 98
6. Yale, 98
8. Dartmouth, 94
 
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.