Sports
Men’s Swim and Dive Shines at BU Winter Open, Sets Stage for Ivy League Championships
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Confidence is swelling among men’s swim and dive heading into the championship season.
The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/mens_swimming/)
Confidence is swelling among men’s swim and dive heading into the championship season.
The impressive incoming class includes state medalists, record-holders, national team competitors and a recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award.
Alex Evdokimov concluded his collegiate career with two top-five finishes at NCAA nationals.
The men’s swimming and diving team wrote history this past weekend at Ivy League Championships, finishing third against its Ancient Eight rivals and breaking 13 school records in the process. The Red is typically better suited to the dual meet season, reaching its peak two years ago, going undefeated in the Ivy League. The team’s third place finish at championships is the best ever for Cornell men’s swimming.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were in Rhode Island this weekend, facing Brown in their last Ancient Eight dual meet of the season. The men (6-4, 4-4 EISL) took another commanding victory, showing similar form to their performance against Columbia. The women’s team (1-9, 0-8 ECAC) failed to win its final meet of the season, or any meet this season, but some of its top swimmers did swim well against Brown.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both competed in meets against Colgate University at Teagle Pool last weekend, though with different results. The men came away with a commanding 179-102 win, sweeping all 16 contests, while the women dropped their meet by a slim 169-129 margin.
As they have done throughout the season, the men continued to improve and showcase just how talented of a team they are. Not only did the Red place first in each one of its 16 total events, but the top-2 swimmers in each race were Cornell swimmers.[img_assist|nid=34215|title=Just keep swimming|desc=The men’s swim team added some longer events to its line-up, including the 800-yard freestyle relay, in which the team broke a pool record.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
The men’s swimming and diving team has been busy this break, as the athletes have continued to increase their stamina and post increasingly faster times. They started back on Dec. 6 by soundly beating Binghamton, 197-102. Seniors Wes Newman and Phil Baity, sophomores Dean Holcomb, Bingming Thum and Chris Keady, and freshmen Michael Cai and Julian Chan all won individual events. In total, Cornell captured 12 out of the 16 total events in the meet.
The Red then returned home on Jan. 10 to compete in a tri-meet against Navy and Yale. This meet proved to be the fastest of the year for Cornell, as four previous pool records were broken by Cornell swimmers.
The men’s swim season is underway, and expectations for the team are high. After kicking off the season with a victory against Dartmouth and a narrow defeat at defending champion Harvard’s home pool, the Red feels confident and ready to compete with every team it faces throughout the year.
“We’re feeling really good right now,” said senior Nick Cochran. “Everybody is really starting to get into shape. The peak of our season is fast approaching; everybody is feeling good and getting ready to swim some fast times.”
The Red decided to tweak its training regimen this offseason, which appears to be paying off. The team has consistently improved as many members of the team have turned in noticeably faster times.
One thing became evident about the men’s swimming team after its meet at Harvard this past weekend — this team is ready to compete for an Ivy title. After traveling to Cambridge, Mass., to take on Dartmouth and defending Ivy champion Harvard, the Red came up seconds short of beating the defending champions in its own pool. Cornell did defeat Dartmouth, but ultimately could not hold on for the upset over the Crimson.
“We were really close to them in two races,” said senior co-captain Wes Newman, who placed first in both the 100 and 200 free. “If we had won those two, we would have won the meet.”
Despite narrowly losing to Harvard, the Red’s performance over the week served as a huge confidence booster heading into the season.