PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Columbia men's swimming and diving team finished in fourth place at the conclusion of the 2023 Ivy League Championships. In what was an incredibly successful weekend for the Lions, they accumulated 975.5 points, while taking home five gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal, shattering four program records, and achieving multiple other top-eight finishers.
Harvard took first place in the competition with 1545 points. Princeton finished in second with 1433.5 points. Yale just edged out Columbia for third place, finishing with 1052 points.
On the final day of competition, The Lions competed in the 1650-free, 200-back, 100-free, 200-breast, 200-fly, 400-free relay, and the finals of the 3-meter dive.
Columbia earned two more gold medals on the final day, both coming from previous champions.
The first was when two-time defending 100-breast champion
Demirkan Demir came in first place in the 200-breast, clocking in with a time of 1:52.94.
The second came from none other than
Jonathan Suckow, who completed a clean sweep in the diving events, won the 3-meter dive with an immaculate 434.00 score. On the final dive of his Ivy career, he completed a forward four-and-a-half somersault in one of the greatest dives in the history of the Ivy League. It helped him cement his eighth championship in eight events in his four-year Ivy career. One would call that, perfection. He was named the Diver of the Meet for his performance.
"Everyone who was in the pool tonight witnessed something special," Head Diving Coach
Scott Donie said. "Jonathan finished his Ivy League career with the highest scoring dive of the meet. A front four-and-a-half that not only sealed the win, but also completed the sweep of every event in all four of his years in the Ivy League, and served as the closing argument for an absolute and simple truth.
Jonathan Suckow is the greatest diver in the history of the Ivy League."
Adam Wu won a bronze medal in the 200-fly with a time of 1:43.95.
Columbia finished off the competition with a fourth-place finish in the 400-free relay. The team of
Zion James,
Thomas Shepanzyk, Wu, and Demir touched the wall with a time of 2:55.26
Among the other top-eight finishers on the night for Columbia included a fifth-place finish in the 200-fly from
Seungjoon Ahn (1:44.29) and a sixth-place finish from
Kyle Won in the 200-back (1:44.93).
Highlights from the past three days can be found here:
DAY 1,
DAY 2,
DAY 3.
"The weekend was a success for the Lions," Head Coach
Jim Bolster said. "It is hard to have the perfect meet, but our team raced well all weekend. We had some great front line performances with Jonny, Demirkan and Adam, but to finish as well as we did takes a united effort. Our freshman class made a huge contribution. We had six make the meet and all of them registered times that scored significant points. I could go on about each individual and their contributions, but don't think today's technology allows for that!"
UP NEXT
NCAA Championships will take place from March 8-10 in Morgantown, W. Va.
KEEPING UP WITH THE LIONS
For the latest Columbia men's swimming and diving program, follow @CULionsMSD and @CULionsDiving on Instagram and Twitter, and on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com.
