Columbia University
Princeton Invite
Men's Swimming & Diving Places Third at Big Al Invite
12/4/2022 10:00:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Suckow dominated both 1m and 3m boards yet again
PRINCETON, N.J. – The men's swimming and diving team finished in third place at Princeton's Big Al Invite, which wrapped up on Sunday evening. The Lions finished with a team score of 601.50, while first-place Princeton won the competition with a score of 1178.5. Following the three days of competition, Columbia had some great individual performances.
Jonathan Suckow has continued his run of dominance, claiming first place on day one in the 1m boards (408.70), and then backing that up with a victorious finish in the 3m competition on day two (398.65). His score on the 1m boards was a pool record.
Meanwhile, Suckow's teammates had some impressive performances as well. Nick Leavell placed third in Saturday's 3m contest with a score of 353.10. Casey Fellows also made the A finals, taking eighth with a score of 320.05. Fellows also came off a victory in the B finals of the 1m boards on Friday with a score of 284.40.
"This meet was a great test for the divers," Head Diving Coach Scott Donie said. "It reproduces the feel and format of the Ivy League Championships in a lot of ways. In day one, everyone made a final and we came out on top in three out of the four finals. Day two was a tremendous day as well, and this was a very valuable experience for all the divers as we head into the rest of our season. Day three saw Macy Pine of the women's team qualify for NCAA zone diving, and it was incredible to see her come in and perform like she did. The divers killed it this weekend!"
The highlight for the swimmers came on day two in the 100-breast, as Demirkan Demir took second place with a time of 53:09. He then followed that up on day three with a second place finish in the 200-breast, clocking in at 1:55.28.
A pair of swimmers won B finals on day two as well, including Stanford Li (100-back) and Adam Wu (200-free).
"The meet went quite well for the Light Blue," Head Coach Jim Bolster said, "We had numerous swimmers and divers perform well. Jonny Suckow won both boards and Nick Leavell, Joe Nicol, Casey Fellows and Ben Blizard backed him up with strong efforts to win the diving competition. In the pool, although we had no individual titles, we held our own in third. We had many great swims; almost everyone turned in a seasons' best performance and several of our swimmers have achieved lifetime best swims. It was a very solid meet for us."
ON DECK - The Lions will have a few weeks off before returning home to host Brown at Percy Uris Natatorium on Friday, January 13. The meet is scheduled to begin at noon.
KEEPING UP WITH THE LIONS - For the latest on the Columbia men's swimming and diving program, follow @CULionsMSD and @CULionsDiving on Instagram and Twitter, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
Players Mentioned
