Brown vs Cornell (Men)
- January 27, 2024
- Ithaca, N.Y.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Cornell Athletics
ITHACA, N.Y. — It was a magical final home meet of the season for the Cornell men’s swimming and diving team on Saturday, as nine pool records and two school records fell in a 184.5-115.5 victory over Brown from Teagle Pool. The Big Red’s victory over the Bears also snapped a four-straight conference losing streak, as its last win over an Ivy League opponent was on Nov. 11 against Dartmouth.
Junior Joseph Gurski stole the show for the Big Red, breaking two program records. First, the junior defeated his previous 200-Butterfly record by shaving over a second with a 1:43.68 as part of a 1-2 finish with teammate Jacques Grove (1:47.16). But Gurski was not finished recreating history, later taking down Jack Mahoney’s 47:11 record time from 2019 with a 46.79 in the 100-Butterfly. Both times are also now Teagle Pool records.
The record-breaking theme continued to classmate Sebastian Wolff, who shattered three pool bests. The junior broke the 50-Freestyle record by two one-hundredths of a second with his time of 20.05 before following up two events later with another record performance in the 100-Freestyle, matching the previous record by touching the wall at a final time of 44.31. Wolff’s final record-breaking performance came in the 200-IM, as he swam a 1:46.21 to defeat the previous record by 0.04 seconds to round out his final home meet of the season.
Cornell’s final individual upperclassmen pool record came from Paige daCosta, as the senior left his final individual mark in Ithaca by swimming a pool-best 22.84 over the first 50 yards to finish over a second under the previous record with his final time of 46.84. The senior was not alone in the pool record performance in the event, as freshman Blake Conway swam under the previous record with a 47.56 to earn second. The lone underclassmen pool record on the day came from sophomore Pietro Ubertalli, as he rose from third place after the first length to knock down head coach Wes Newman’s pool record of 1:37.53 set in 2009 with a 1:37.43 in the 200-Freestyle.
The red and white’s final two pool records started and closed the swimming portions of the meet as senior Logan Holt, Wolff, Gurski, and Will Taner put together a shift in the 200-Medley Relay, shattering the previous record by almost two seconds with a 1:27.03. Taner had the best swim of the four as the anchor in the relay, putting together a season-best 19.52 split. And on the final event of the day, Cornell’s 400-Freestyle relay squad of Ubertalli, Taner, Jack Banks, and daCosta sent the Snake Pit faithful home happy with a record 2:55.97 swim, smashing the previous best of 2:58.58.
Looking past the pool records, other Big Red swimmers also brought home strong performances that brought some points on the final leaderboard. The 200-Backstroke was all Big Red, as daCosta (1:46.21), Conway (1:46.22), and Ubertalli (1:46.57) earned the lone podium sweep on the day, while sophomore Jacques Grove earned gold in the 500-Freestyle, snagging the top spot by two one-hundredths of a second over Brown’s Andrew Berzolla with a final time of 4:28.33. Soodong Kim closed out the winning for the Big Red by earning the top spot in the 3-Meter dive to kick off the meet with 340.73 points.
Cornell’s 185.5-115.5 victory over the Bears also snapped a four-meet losing streak against the Bears, as its last win before Saturday came in a 177-123 win in Ithaca on Jan 26-27, 2018.
UP NEXT
Cornell will send athletes to Massachusetts for the Boston University Open hosted by the Terriers on Friday, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 10. Competition for Friday’s session will begin at 6 p.m. while Saturday’s session starts at noon.
Courtesy: Brown Athletics
ITHACA, N.Y. – Brown men’s swimming and diving (3-4, 3-4 Ivy) fell to Cornell (4-5, 2-5 Ivy) 184.5-115.5 on Saturday afternoon in Teagle Pool. The Bears set three pool records as Jack Kelly’s marks in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes and Aidan Wilson’s 1,000 freestyle performance topped the leaderboards.
“That was our fastest dual meet performance of the year, but we ran into a hot team that put a ton of stock into beating us today,” said Kevin Norman, Ollie ’50 & Kay Patrell Men’s Swimming & Diving Coaching Chair. “When three relays in the very first event went under the pool record, it was clear this was going to be an incredibly fast meet. I’m proud of how hard we fought and how well we competed. I hate to lose, but we saw a lot today to be excited about as we head into championship season.”
Kelly’s 52.27 mark in the 100 yard breaststroke shattered the previous record of 53.79, and the 1:54.73 finish in the 200 yard breaststroke destroyed the 1:57.26 previous Teagle Pool mark.
Wilson’s 9:07.70, broke the previous pool record of 9:09.95 and was followed by Andrew Berzolla and Max Hardart.
Rowland Lawver won the 1 meter diving with a score of 345.23
NEXT
The Bears return to action on Feb. 9-10, competing in the Boston Open.