Light Blue defeat Cornell, achieve first Ivy win

The women’s swimming and diving team achieved its first win in the Ancient Eight this weekend, beating Cornell 168-132 in Ithaca on Saturday. With the win, the Lions improved to 3-3 for the season and 1-3 in the Ivy league.

The meet began with a successful diving performance by freshman Kathleen Furr, who placed second in the 3-meter diving and first in the 1-meter competition. Continuing this success into the lanes was the relay team of freshman Alena Kluge, senior Mariele Dunn and sophomores Caroline Lukins and Katie Meili, who finished first in the 200 medley relay in 1:47.27.

Freshman Aileen Smith took first in the next event as well, finishing the 1000 free with a time of 10:26.77. In the 200 butterfly, Lions junior Caitlin Rogers and Lukins went 1-2 with times of 2:06.56 and 2:07.05, respectively. In the 50 free, Meili was dominant once again, while also going on to win the 100 free and 200 IM competitions.

The Lions continued to overpower the Big Red throughout the rest of the meet, earning the top spots in the 200 back by Kluge and the 200 breast by Dunn. Columbia also claimed first and second places in the 500 free, with Smith placing first and Isabelle Vandenbroucke taking second.

Next, the Light Blue will take on Brown at Uris Pool for their annual Homecoming Meet on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 12 p.m.