Columbia University
Princeton Invitational
Men's Swimming and Diving Places Fifth at Big Al Invitational
12/3/2023 11:00:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Lions score 434 points through three days
PRINCETON, N.J. – The men's swimming and diving team finished in fifth place at the Big Al Invitational this weekend in New Jersey, scoring 434 points. Host Princeton won the competition with a final score of 891.5.
"Our three days of racing ended well this evening," Head Coach Jim Bolster said. "The highlight was freshman Zach Vasser's 1650 free with a 15:14.06, Columbia's second fastest of all-time. Three top 8 swims in the 200 backstroke — sophomore Isaac Beers finished fourth with a time of 1:43.90. We also had two top 4 finishers in the 200 breaststroke — junior Demirkan Demir came second with a 1:55.5 and freshman Josh Corn came 4th with a 1:56.6. For the 100 free, Zion James tied for 4th with a 43.77. Overall, the weekend was a solid success for the light blue. The focus was on lots of racing and we did just that."
Full results from the entire meet can be found HERE, while a summary can be found below.
DAY ONE
Columbia kicked things off with a sixth-place finish in the 200-free relay, as the team of Zion James, Samuel Eckert, René Strezenicky, and Noah Czelusta finished with a time of 1:20.42.
Adam Wu won the B finals of the 500-free, finishing with a time of 4:22.87.
Zion James placed seventh in the 50-free with a time of 20.22
DAY TWO
Demirkan Demir came in second place in the 100-breast with a time of 53.51.
Isaac Beers took fifth in the 100-back with a time of 47.48.
René Strezenicky won the B finals of the 200-free with a time of 1:37.65.
DAY THREE
In the first event of the evening, Zach Vasser's placed fourth in the 1650-free with a time of 15:14.06, which was the second fastest time in the history of the program.
Isaac Beers followed up his fourth place finish in the 100-back yesterday with a fifth-place finish in the 200-back this evening, clocking in with a time of 1:43.90.
Zion James kept up his great performance in sprinting events, clocking in with a time of 43.77 in the 100-free which was good for fourth place.
Demirkan Demir earned his second, second place finish of the weekend, this time in the 200-breast when he touched the wall with a time of 1:55.72.
DIVING
Meanwhile, Joseph Nicol had a solid performance in the men's 1m dive. He won the B finals with a score of 277.55.
On day two, Nicol made it two B final wins in a row with a top score of 299.40.
ON DECK
The Lions will have over a month off for the holidays, before returning to action on Saturday, January 13 against Brown in Rhode Island. The meet is scheduled to begin at noon.
For the latest on the Columbia men's swimming and diving program, follow follow @CULionsMSD and @CULionsDiving on Instagram and Twitter, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
Players Mentioned
