NEW YORK — The Columbia women's swimming and diving team opened the 2025-26 season in style on Friday evening, defeating NYU 170-130 at Uris Natatorium.
"It was an exciting start to the meet season!" Head Coach
Diana Caskey said. "The team has been training really hard, and we're already starting to see results."
In the first swimming event of the year, the Lions took first and second place in the 200 medley relay. Leading the way was the team of
Shaelyn Shields,
Natalia Diaz,
Ella Chan, and
Sally Ma with a time of 1:44.75.
Lindsay Orringer shined in the first individual swimming event of the season, dominating the 1000 free with a first place finish and time of 10:26.00. Sammy Segerson was right behind her in second place at 10:32.33.
Ashley Hong earned her first win of the season in the 100 breast, clocking in at 1:05.87.
Jilly MacNamara picked up in year two where she left off her rookie season, winning the 200 back with a time of 2:03.11.
Mia Avansino claimed her first place finish of the season in the 500 free, touching the wall at 5:02.26. Orringer was behind her in second place with a time of 5:10.05.
Ella Chan also took home a first place finish in her first career meet, clocking in at 56.55 in the 100 free.
Shields also snagged her first career individual win in the final solo event of the night, touching the wall with a time of 4:27.91 in the 400 IM.
For the divers,
Chloe Leung got the evening started with a first place in the 3m dive. Her score of 282.15 just beat out Lera Bondarenko who claimed second with a score of 275.75.
Then in the 1m dive, Leung earned the first sweep of her career with a score of 285.30 to secure first place once again and begin the new campaign with the best possible start.
"All the divers competed extremely well," Head Diving Coach
Scott Donie said. "A solid collegiate debut for Adya. Lera was particularly strong. Chloe with her first sweep and two NCAA Zone scores. Outstanding!"
Full results from the meet, including all of the Lions' top performers and times, can be found
HERE.
Columbia will return to the pool Next Friday evening for its first Ivy dual meet of the year against Penn in Philadelphia. The meet is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
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.
