The Columbia men’s swimming and diving team hosted back-to-back dual meets over the weekend. On Saturday the Lions welcomed Ivy foe Brown University and prevailed 168-124; the next day they defeated Bucknell, 159-83. Senior David Jakl set Uris pool records in the 50 free and 100 back and was a member of three record-setting relays.
Saturday
Saturday was Senior Day at Percy Uris Natatorium in New York City and the Lions’s seniors were out in full force, combining to win 5 individual events. Jakl, Stanley Wong, and Alex Ngan opened the festivities by setting a new pool record in the 200 medley relay with freshman Kevin Frifeldt, going 1:29.16. Brown placed second in 1:33.15 behind Willy Lee, Christopher Meyers, Jeffrey Strausser, and Daniel Klotz. The Lions broke another Uris pool record at the end of the meet when Jakl, Frifeldt, Terry Li and Ngan clocked a 2:59.41 in the 400 free relay, becoming the first Columbia squad to dip under the three-minute mark
Seniors Michael Fox-Moles (50.95 in the 100 back), Wong (56.51 in 100 breast), Kevin Quinn (1:47.74 in 200 fly), and Ngan (20.47) all notched wins for the Lions during their tribute meet.
Brown freshman Grant Casey put the Bears on the board with a 9:30.76 win in the 1000 free. Columbia’s Jack Foster (9:32.91) was runner-up, while Brown’s Cory Mayfield (9:34.15) was third to the wall. Mayfield later finished .10 out of first in the 500 free behind Columbia’s Nikita Bondarenko, 4:36.39 to 4:36.49.
Columbia freshman Michal Zyla was a two-time winner, going 1:40.80 in the 200 free and 1:50.73 in the 200 back. Brown’s Willy Lee and Max Bley-Male finished second and third together, with 1:52.55 and 1:52.69, respectively. Another Columbia freshman to claim two event titles was Joseph Lozano, winner of the 200 breast (2:04.41) and 200 IM (1:51.47). Connor Lohman (2:07.49) and Riley Springman (1:54.22) were the fastest Bears, respectively. Freshman diver Jayden Pantel led teammate, senior Micah Rembrandt, in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events; Billy Rosenberg and Jonathan Schlafer were the top-performing Bears.
Sunday
The Lions launched into Sunday’s meet with another Uris Pool record, this time in the 400 medley relay. Jakl lowered his own pool record in the 100 back with a leadoff split of 49.09, then was followed by Wong, Quinn and Ngan. Their combined 3:18.66 was nearly two seconds faster than what Harvard went to break the record last year.
Jakl followed that performance with a record-breaking 50 free. Cracking the 20-second barrier for the first time, Jakl went a personal-best 19.97 and took the pool record down by .12.
Pantel continued his run on the boards, winning both the 3-meter and 1-meter diving events. Another double-winner for Columbia was Frifeldt: he smoked the field in the 100 free with 46.05, then squeezed by Bucknell’s Denver Freeman to win the 200 free, 1:42.54 to 1:42.73.
Brad Gibble won a closely-contested 400 IM over Bucknell’s Louis Behnen, 4:04.57 to 4:05.31. Behnen got the upper hand earlier in the meet when he produced the stronger second half to beat Bondarenko in the 500 free, 4:37.14 to 4:38.73.
Senior Quinn led a big 1-2-3-4 Lions show-of-strength in the 200 fly, winning handily in 1:48.36 over Drew May, Alex Mango, and Foster.
In addition to Behnen, the top-performing Bison in the meet included Chris Devlin, who outpaced Fox-Moles in the 200 back, 1:50.45 to 1:52.70, and Ben Seketa, who had a spectacular come-from-behind win in the 200 breast, touching out Columbia’s Lozano 2:06.30 to 2:06.70.
Jakl is a great swimmer and person, but how will Columbia make up for the loss of these swimmers when they graduate?
Jakl hosted me on my visit there and I loved it. He’s an amazing swimmer and an awesome guy.
What will Columbia do next year when Jakl and Quinn leave? They need good swimmers who can swim fly like they do.