The Columbia men’s squash team began the new year with four straight away matches. The Lions started in Annapolis, Md., squaring off against the 15th-ranked Navy Midshipmen last Tuesday. While Columbia’s first seed, freshman Ramit Tandon, and second seed, junior Tony Zou pulled away with victories, the rest of the team fell in a 7-2 loss. The Lions then traveled to Providence on Saturday, where they defeated No. 13 Brown, 6-3. The Light Blue wrapped up its winter break schedule in New Haven by splitting back-to-back matches against Bowdoin and Yale this Sunday. While Columbia handily defeated No. 20 Bowdoin 7-2, only a few hours later all nine of their players lost in a clean 9-0 sweep for No. 2 Yale. All but one of the matches ended in straight sets as the Bulldogs cruised to victory. The Lions’ Tandon, one of the top-ranked youth squash players in the world, did not play in Columbia’s loss to the Bulldogs. The Lions are ranked 16th overall in the nation, sporting a 3-4 record overall, and they will continue their season in the Pioneer Valley Invitational in Amherst, Mass. this weekend.
Women’s squash (2-5) had a difficult weekend, falling 8-1 on Saturday at No. 11 Brown (4-2), before splitting two matches at Yale, winning 9-0 versus No. 19 Bowdoin (4-7), and falling 9-0 to the No. 2 Bulldogs (6-0).
Against the Bears, the Lions put up a stronger fight than the 8-1 final would suggest. Four individual matches went longer than the minimum three, but only sophomore Katie Quan was able to win her match, 11-8 5-11 11-4 11-7. Sophomore Skylar Dickey played in the closest match, with three games decided by the minimum two points and one by three.
Second-ranked Yale, with seven of the top 70 players in the country, including the top player in sophomore Millie Tomlinson, controlled its match against the 16th-ranked Lions in the latter’s weekend finale. Freshmen Alisha Maity and Kate Calihan and sophomores Monica Stone, Dickey, and Jenny Schroder were the only Lions to hit eight points—once each—with Calihan getting to nine and Schroder to 11, in the final match of the meeting. Dickey played in both the sixth and seventh slots, filling in for sophomore Morgan Strauss.
Columbia returns to action next weekend to play in the Pioneer Valley Invitational at Amherst.
The Columbia women’s swim team trumped Wagner, 169-88, in their first meet of 2012, bringing the squad’s dual meet record to 3-1 for the 2011-2012 season.
At Uris Pool on Jan. 3, the Lions opened the meet by sweeping the first three events, 400 yard medley relay, 400 IM, and 200 free. The winning times were posted by the team of junior Laney Kluge, freshman Mikaila Gaffey, junior Katie Meili, and freshman Salena Huang in 3:57.85. Sophomore Grace Senko emerged victorious in the 400 IM in a time of. 4:35.12, and freshman Emily LaVay would cap the streak with a 1:56.91 in the 200 free.
Gaffey and Senko would become a repeat winners, Gaffey claiming the 50 breast, and Senko in the 100 back. Meanwhile, juniors Caroline Lukins, Lacey Harris-Coble, and Kristina Parson all swam to firsts of their own in the 50 back, 50 free, and 50 fly, respectively.
Overall, the Lions took the top spot in 12 of the 15 races, including first-place finishes by freshmen Anne Steele in the 100 butterfly and Salena Huang in the 1650 free. Senior Isabelle Vandenbroucke won the 100 free.
The meet wrapped up with a win by Wagner in the 200 free relay. Regardless, the Seahawks’ efforts were not enough to overcome the comfortable lead established early on by the Columbia women.
The Lions return to conference competition on Saturday, Jan. 21, when they will swim against Cornell. The meet will begin at Uris Pool at 11 a.m
The freshmen on the men’s swimming and diving team showed their prowess in the pool, resulting in a 129.5 to 111.5 victory over the Bucknell Bisons. Freshmen swimmers Stanley Wong, Alex Ngan, and Daniel Gosek went one-two-three in the 50 yard freestyle. The rest of the team also contributed heavily to the win with a total of six first place finishes. Freshman diver Micah Rembrandt finished second place in the 1m diving event and first place in the 3m diving event to clinch the meet. The team continues to search for wins in the 400-yard medley relay as the team of freshman Omar Arafa, sophomore Matthew Swallow, senior Bruno Esquen, and junior John Wright finished 0.53 seconds behind the team from Bucknell. With the victory, the Light Blue improves to 3-2 on the season. Its next dual meet will be against Cornell at Uris Pool on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 3 p.m.
The Columbia indoor track and field team traveled to West Point, N.Y. last weekend to compete in the West Point Invitational. Both the men’s and women’s teams participated in the six-team competition at Gillis Field House. The meet marked the first event of the 2012 campaign for the Lions, and though the men only finished fourth overall, and the women fifth, Columbia proved to be quite dominant in a number of events. The women scored in seven of the eight total events (combining 77 points) and accounted for six total first-place finishes. Senior Kyra Caldwell was integral to the success of the Lady Lions, contributing to two of the six first-place times with a 58.49-second 400m time, and a 3:57.98 second 4x400 relay time with teammates junior Yamira Bell, sophomore Miata Morlu, and junior Uju Ofoche. For the Columbia men, success at the West Point Invitational was similar. The Lions scored 77 total points and finished fifth but shared results of similar success. Freshman Daniel Everett gave two first-place performances, finishing the men’s 1000m with a time of 2:28.93 and the 4x800m relay with teammates senior Adam Behnke, sophomore Sam Miner, and sophomore Harry McFann with a time of 7:51.24. The Columbia team will continue its season on Jan. 21 at Leverone Field House in Hanover, N.H. for the Ivy League Tri-Meet, hosted by Dartmouth.
Wrestling
Looking to build off an impressive 3-1 performance at the Pitt Duals two weeks ago, the Lions (3-2) fell to Army (4-5), 19-15 in their home opener. Four Columbia wrestlers claimed victories. Freshman Elijah Sullivan earned a victory in the 141-pound division, as did junior Stephen West in the 175 and senior Kevin Lester in the 285. Junior Steve Santos—who went 4-0 at the Pitt Duals—also continued his torrid start to the season, beating Black Knight sophomore Ryan Bilyeu to improve to 12-5 on the season in the 149-pound class. The rest of Columbia’s team, however, did not fare as well. Senior Kyle Gilchrist (17-7) and junior Jake O’Hara (16-8), who own two of the best overall records on the team, came away empty-handed. Gilchrist lost at the 133, while O’Hara fell short at the 157. Junior Robert Dyar was defeated in the 125, as were senior Eren Civan at the 165 and junior Nick Mills at the 197. The Light Blue is next scheduled to compete in the NYS Collegiate Wrestling Championship this Saturday and Sunday in Ithaca.
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