Men's Swimming and Diving Set for Ivy League Championships

Wednesday, February 22

Providence, R.I.

All Day

Columbia University

Ivy League

Men's Swimming and Diving Set for Ivy League Championships

2/22/2023 9:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving

WATCH Championship Central Full Schedule

The competition will be hosted by Brown from February 22-25th

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Columbia men's swimming and diving team is set to compete at the 2023 Ivy League Men's Swimming & Diving Championships at Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center on the campus of Brown University. The meet, which is taking place from February 22-25, will have finals beginning at 6 p.m. each night, with the prelims being held at 11 a.m. every day except Wednesday

HOW TO FOLLOW
Visit the Ivy League's championship central for up to date information on the championships including schedule of events, heat sheets, stream information, tickets, and more! The meet can be streamed via ESPN+.

LAST TIME OUT
The Lions closed out the regular season on a two-meet winning streak, taking down Dartmouth, 166.5-121.5, in the regular season finale on February 4.

Columbia kicked things off with a victory in the 200-medley relay. The squad consisting of Andy Huang, Demirkan Demir, Noah Czelusta, and Zion James finished with a time of 1:30.98 to take first place.

The team's first individual victory of the afternoon came in the first individual event, as Seth Roach touched the wall first in the 1000-free, clocking in at 9:30.53, to earn his first career win.

The Lions would win the next three events as well, highlighted by a victory in the 200-free from Adam Wu who finished with a time of 1:39.00.

Tristan Pragnell came up big in the 200-back, earning his first career victory with a time of 1:52.09.

Michael Zhang closed things out with a win in the 200-breast (2:06.98).

CHAMPIONSHIP STYLE MEETS
Columbia has had success swimming in championship style meets so far this season. The Lions had a solid showing at the Big Al Invite this year, hosted by Princeton back in December, finishing in third place.

Jonathan Suckow set a pool record in the event's 1-meter diving competition, scoring 408.70. He won that event, along with the 3-meter competition, continuing his run of excellence.

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).

At last year's Ivy League Championships, the lions finished in fifth place. Much of the same core will be returning this year to swim in Rhode Island with more experience under their belts. The Lions will look to build on last year's performance.

THIS YEAR'S ROSTER
This year's Ivy League roster will consist of the following Columbia swimmers:

Seniors: Michael Chang, Thomas Shepanzyk, and Ray Yang

Juniors: Seungjoon Ahn, Noah Czelusta, Andy Huang, and Stanford Li

Sophomore: Demirkan Demir, Andrew Fouty, Kyle Won and Tristan Pragnell

First-Years: Isaac Beers, Zion James, Brian Lee, Matthew Lou, Adam Wu, and Michael Zhang

The divers heading to Rhode Island will be Nick Leavell, Joseph Nicol, and Jonathan Suckow.

SUCKOW MANIA
One of the greatest divers in the nation, Suckow enters this year's Ivy Championships on an absolute tear. He was victorious in every single 1-meter and 3-meter diving event throughout this Ivy season. He also won both events in every dual meet the Lions competed in, as well as in the Big Al Invite earlier this season. He set numerous different pool records at various visiting pools, as well as new program records in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, both previously set by him.

At last year's Ivy Championships, Suckow dominated both boards, winning both events just as he did in 2019 and 2018. He currently holds the Ivy record in the 1-meter and the 3-meter, and will be looking to set a new record once again this weekend as he looks to make it a clean sweep for every Ivy Championship he has participated in.

HEAR FROM COACH BOLSTER
"I am looking forward to the four days of competition at our Ivy Championship meet," Head Coach Jim Bolster said. "We had a strong dual meet season, but those stats go out the window for this weekend. Princeton and Harvard look to be the favorites and I think we will have an opportunity to finish third, but we will have to have a level of performance that is representative of our dual meet success. There are 17 swimmers who have three events each and three divers who have two events each. In order to contend for the podium all 20 of those athletes will have to be at their best. Not an easy task, but then, anything good is never easy."

ON DECK
ECACs will also take place this weekend, from Friday-Sunday in Maryland, hosted by Navy. Following this weekend's packed schedule, the NCAA Championships will take place from March 8-10 in Morgantown, W. Va.

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.