ANNAPOLIS, Md. — In a meet that came down to the final relay, the Columbia men's swimming and diving team was narrowly defeated by the Navy Midshipmen on Friday afternoon in Maryland. The Lions had a ton of great performances, but in the end Navy escaped with a 153-147 win. 

All day Columbia and the Midshipmen were neck-and-neck with the final event of the day, the 400 free relay, set to decide the final result. The Lions' A-relay team consisting of Adam Wu, Sam Eckert, Isaac Beers, and Zion James gave an incredible effort, but ultimately came up five-hundredths of a second short of the victory. 

Stephen Zhukov had a great day, getting things started with a win in the 1000 free which was the first individual event of the day. His time of 9:16.64 was three seconds better than the rest of the field. Later in the day, he won the 500 free with a time of 4:31.65.

Wu also won two events, with the first being the 200 free thanks to a time of 1:37.28. He would go on to win the 200 fly with a time of 1:48.80. 

Impressively, James and Eckert tied for first in the 50 free with the same exact time of 20.34. 

Joshua Corn won the 200 breast with a time of 1:59.28.

Joseph Nicol has an excellent day to lead the divers. First, he won the 1m boards with a score of 322.95. Then, he would go on to place second on the 3m boards with a score of 326.03.

"Some quality dives from everyone," Head Diving Coach Scott Donie said. "A career best score for Will on the 1m. And Joe was outstanding in the same event. We are excited to get back to work for our final dual meet of the season next weekend at Dartmouth!"

Full results from the meet, including all of the Lions' top performers and times, can be found HERE.

Columbia will close out the regular season next week with a meet against Dartmouth in Hanover on Saturday, February 1 at 11 a.m.
 
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.