Sports briefly: Men's and women's swimming and diving

Men's swimming and diving
The Lions return to Uris Pool to face Harvard in the final dual meet of the calendar year. Despite finishing third at the end of the first day of the Big Al Invitational in Princeton last weekend, Columbia rallied to finish the event in second place with 691 points. Only the hosts finished higher with a final score of 1103.5 points. Sophomore Harry Stephenson led the Lions in the 1650-yard freestyle with a second-place finish after clocking a time of 16:00.94. Other swimmers that placed in the top ten of the event included freshman Stephen Raynes, who had a fourth-place finish, freshman Chester Dols, who finished sixth, and freshman Sam Dunkle, who came in ninth. The Light Blue also had two 400-yard freestyle relay squads place in the top ten, with sophomore Daniel Tan, freshman Omar Arafa, freshman David Jakl, and sophomore Eric Traub finishing fourth with a time of 3:04.40. This weekend’s competition is set to begin on Saturday at 2 p.m.
—Eric Wong

Woen's swimming and diving
The Light Blue hosts Harvard and Penn in a double-dual meet today at 4 p.m.

The Crimson and the Quakers, ranked first and fifth in the Ivy League, respectively, will provide a new challenge for the Lions as all the teams are yet to meet in competition this season. Harvard, who placed second at last year’s Ivy League Championships, has achieved decisive victories over both Cornell and Dartmouth within the past month. Penn currently maintains a 1-1 record in the Ivy League, and won the Total Performance Invitational at Kenyon last weekend.

For its part, Columbia is coming off a relatively restful weekend. A smattering of athletes traveled to compete at the US Winter National Championships in Georgia, and at the Big Al Invitational, hosted by Princeton, where the reduced squad placed seventh overall.

Following today’s meet, the Lions will see no further action until Jan. 3, when they host a meet against Wagner College.
—Charlotte Murtishaw