Columbia Opens Season This Weekend, Welcoming Penn Friday and Harvard Saturday

Friday, November 5

New York, NY

5:00 PM

Columbia University

Penn

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

Columbia Opens Season This Weekend, Welcoming Penn Friday and Harvard Saturday

11/1/2021 3:56:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Meet Mobile App

Lions look to dive into first meet since early 2020.

NEW YORK -- The Columbia women's swimming and diving program will open the 2020-21 season on Friday, hosting Penn at 5:00 P.M. in Percy Uris Natatorium. The home-opening weekend will continue on Saturday as the Lions welcome Harvard at noon.

All spectators must follow the Columbia Venue and Spectator policy, found at GoColumbiaLions.com.

Live results will be available via MeetMobile.

Columbia looks to build on a successful 2019-2020 campaign which saw the Lions go 4-3 in dual meet action to finish fourth in the Ivy League. Despite losing the 2020-2021 season to the COVID-19 pandemic, Columbia returns a slew of experienced swimmers and divers including five who posted top-16 finishes at the 2020 Ivy League Championships.

Senior Mary Pruden makes her return to the pool after setting a program record in the 200-yard backstroke at the 2020 championships (1:57.52) for a ninth place finish. Junior Isabella Fratesi made her mark in the 200 breaststroke, earning a seventh place finish ahead of classmate Olivia Jubin who finished in 10th. Classmate Karen Liu claimed a 16th-place result in the 200-yard butterfly.

Former second team All-Ivy diver Briget Rosendahl enters her senior year with two Championship appearances to her name, including a sixth place finish off the 3-meter in 2020.

Scouting Penn
For the sixth consecutive season, Columbia and Penn open their season against one another. While the Quakers have edged the Lions in three of these meetings, Columbia has claimed decisive victories in the two most recent matchups.

In 2020 Penn earned a fourth place finish at the Ivy League Championships, finishing the season sixth in the league. Notable returners include distance dynamites Catherine Buroker, whose first-place finishes in both the 1,000 and 1,650 swims set program records, and Grace Giddings whose seventh place finishes in both events marked personal bests.

Scouting Harvard
Behind a runner-up finish at the 2020 Ivy League Championships, Harvard finished its last competitive season ranked third in the league.

Junior Felicia Pasadyn returns to Percy Uris after setting a pool record in the 200 backstroke last season. As a rookie, Pasadyn earned Ivy League Championship titles in seven events (200 backstroke, 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay, 800 free relay and 400 free relay) while setting seven program records, four Ivy League Meet records, and six pool records. Overall, the Crimson return four reigning All-Ivy selections who combined for 13 All-Conference honors in 2020.

On Deck
The Lions will continue Ivy League action next weekend, traveling to Yale on Friday, Nov. 9 to take on the Bulldogs at 5 p.m.

For the latest on the Columbia women's swimming and diving program, follow @CULionsWSD on Twitter and Instagram, @ColumbiaDiving on Instagram and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.