Sports Briefly: Wrestling, Men's Swimming, Men's and Women's Tennis, Squash, and Track and Field

Men's Tennis
The Lions posted a dominating 7-0 win this weekend over Cleveland State to improve to 2-0 on the season. Freshman Winston Lin posted a strong performance at the No. 1 singles slot, defeating the Vikings’ No. 1, freshman Ali Shabib. Fellow freshmen Ashok Narayana and Bert Vancura both won their singles matches handily. The Light Blue also won the rest of its singles matches. The only negative for the Lions came when freshmen Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur fell in the No. 1 doubles match, but the Light Blue took the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches to complete the sweep.
—Eli Schultz

Women's Tennis
The Light Blue remains undefeated after defeating Hofstra and UMass at home this past weekend. The Lions swept the Pride 7-0 on Friday, finishing the match in two hours without losing a set. Freshman Crystal Leung and junior Katarina Kovacevic opened doubles play 8-1 in the No. 3 spot while first-seed sophomores Bianca Sanon and Tiana Takenega secured the doubles point moments later. Kovacevic began singles play with a 6-0, 6-0 victory in the No. 4 spot. Sophomore Ioana Alecsiu held her opponent to one game in the No. 2 spot, after which first-seed junior Nicole Bartnik confirmed the win by beating Pride senior Elena Ivanova 6-1, 6-2. The Light Blue prevailed 5-2 against the Minutewomen on Saturday with the doubles point and consecutive wins in the Nos. 1, 2, and 6 spots, and finished the day with victory from Kovacevic at No. 5.
Columbia will host Binghamton this Friday at 3 p.m. at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.
—Laura Allen

Men's Swimming
The Lions’ team’s recent winning streak came to an end this weekend, as they were handed their first loss of 2012 by Navy, 156-136. This puts the Light Blue at 6-3 on the season. Despite the loss, there were many positives from the meet, such as the performances from freshmen David Jakl, Alex Ngan, Omar Arafa, Micah Rembrandt, and junior diver Jason Collazo. Jakl won the 100-yard butterfly in 55.98 seconds and also finished second in the 200 butterfly. In the 100 backstroke, Arafa snagged victory with a time of 56.41. Rembrandt won both the one- and three-meter diving events, and Collazo placed second in the three-meter dive. The Light Blue will travel to face Princeton on Friday at 5 p.m.
—Eric Wong

Wrestling
It was a difficult weekend for the Lions, who fell 30-9 to No. 3 Cornell. Two Big Red wrestlers are ranked first nationally at their weights, and both triumphed over their Light Blue counterparts. Cornell junior Kyle Dake defeated Columbia junior Jake O’Hara at 157 pounds, while senior Cam Simaz defeated Lions junior Nick Mills at 197 pounds. Senior heavyweight Kevin Lester also failed to get a win for Columbia, as did the Light Blue’s other captain, senior Kyle Gilchrist, who lost a tight match at 133 pounds. The Lions managed only three wins against the Big Red. Junior Steve Santos defeated Cornell rookie Chris Villalonga, who is ranked No. 20 in the nation, in the 149-pound category. Junior Stephen West picked up a big victory at 174 pounds, and freshman Shane Hughes beat Big Red sophomore Michael Alexander to earn the win at 184 pounds.
—Eli Schultz

Track and Field
The Light Blue enjoyed several promising performances this past weekend at the prestigious New Balance Collegiate Invitational, where the Lions ran among the nation’s elite. On Friday, the women took third and fourth places in the 5000-meter championship, while the men took third place in the 1000 championship. The Light Blue came out even stronger on the second day of competition, securing multiple first-place finishes on the men’s side. The men’s 4x800m and 4x400m teams won their respective events, setting meet, Armory, school, and Ivy League records all around. Select Lions will next compete in the renowned Millrose Games on Feb. 11.
—Melissa Cheung

Men's Squash
The Light Blue fell against two Ivy opponents, No. 5 Harvard and No. 7 Dartmouth, this weekend, losing both matches 9-0. The Crimson and Big Green both lived up to their high rankings. In the two clashes, all nine Lions lost in three straight games, many of them not even getting more than six points in a game. Freshman Daniel Saleem showed fighting spirit against the Big Green’s Luke Lee at No. 3 on Sunday, battling Lee until the last point during the first and third matches. However, Saleem’s efforts fell short and could not save the Lions from their second loss of the weekend. The Lions will seek to rebound during their match on Friday at 4 p.m. against No. 9 Penn in Philadelphia.
—Mia Park

Women's Squash
The No. 14 Lions fell in both of their league matchups against No. 1 Harvard and No. 8 Dartmouth last weekend. The Crimson, currently undefeated this season with an 11-0 record, dominated the Light Blue in a 9-0 victory on Friday. The top three players for the Crimson won their matches without dropping a game. The Big Green rounded out the weekend of Ivy League competition with an 8-1 victory over the Light Blue on Sunday. Although the Lions fell to both teams this weekend, they remain confident moving forward, as they continue to establish themselves at the varsity level. Coach Kelsey Engman described the matchup against Harvard as “a good learning experience” and a solid benchmark for where the team hopes to be in the future.
—Caroline Bowman