NEW YORK – The Columbia women's swimming and diving team (2-2) continued its run of success on Friday afternoon, defeating the Brown Bears (2-4), 156-144, in a nail-biter at Uris Natatorium. 

"It was a really hard-fought battle," Head Coach Diana Caskey said. "We touched down in LaGuardia late Wednesday evening after an awesome training trip, and we were revved up and ready to go for the meet against Brown today. The Bears never gave up and kept this meet close the entire time, but our team really delivered in the end to come out with the win. Great performances all around." 

The afternoon began with the 3-meter diving event, with the Lions taking second, third and fourth place to earn nine points. Alice Diakova led the way with a second place finish and a score of 274.65. Later on, in the 1-meter boards, Chloe Leung placed third to earn three points for the Lions. 

"Strong diving by the Lions today," Head Diving Coach Scott Donie said. "Alice and Macy were so consistent and a stand out performance by Chloe to be our top finisher in the 1-meter."

The swimming events began with the 200-medley relay, and Columbia came out victorious right out of the gate. The team of Grace Zhou, Ashley Hu, Emily MacDonald, and Isabelle Arevalo clocked in with a time of 1:41.17, just ahead of Brown's foursome (1:41.26), to earn 11 points for the Lions. 

Columbia's first individual victory of the day came in the 200-free, when Olivia Jubin finished with a time of 1:49.84 to earn nine points for the Lions. 

Ashley Hu followed that up with a first place finish in the 100-breast with a time of 1:02.77

MacDonald continued her run of dominance in the sprints, winning both the 50-free and 100-free with times of 23.01 and 50.25, respectively. 

Hu helped the Lions hold the lead late in the afternoon with a win in the 200-breast (2:15.57). Karen Liu then put the finishing touches on the competition with a victory in the second to last event, the 200-IM, to help Columbia secure the victory. 


ON DECK
The Lions will be right back at it on Sunday, January 15 as the team will hit the road once again for a trip to Ithaca, New York, to take on Ivy League foe Cornell. The meet is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. 
 

KEEPING UP WITH THE LIONS
For the latest on the Columbia women's swimming and diving program, follow @CULionsWSD and @CULionsDiving on Instagram and Twitter, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.