Men’s Swimming Eyes Eastern Independent League Championship

After a respite from the waters, the Columbia men’s swimming and diving team heads into competition today in search of its ultimate goal—a league championship.

Held at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool in Cambridge, Mass., the Eastern Independent League Championship will feature the league’s best swimmers in a three-day competition beginning today and ending on Saturday. In addition to the Ivy League squads, the EISL Championship includes the Navy team that defeated Columbia earlier in the season.

Over the course of the next three days, the Lions (5-6, 2-6 EISL) will face stiff competition and Olympic-caliber swimmers in a double-session-style tournament. The day sessions will be preliminaries, while the night sessions will be event finals.

Despite having a record that leaves the team near the bottom of the league standings, the Lions are confident going into the first day of competition.

“We’re feeling very positive heading into Easterns,” said senior and captain Henning Fog. “Columbia has always been a strong taper team, posting big-time drops and surprising swims with clockwork regularity. I don’t expect anything to change this year.”

Leading the rest of the EISL pack will be perennial contenders Princeton and Harvard, who boast both talent and depth. The two-time defending champion Tigers will take on the Crimson’s undefeated regular season record in a battle of the league’s top two heavyweights. Princeton will try and foil Harvard’s bid for a perfect season with superior depth that has garnered the team wins in the last two postseasons. In a true display of just how deep the Tiger roster is, despite championship success, the team has had only one individual event winner in the last two EISL tournaments.

Harvard (9-0, 8-0 EISL), who won last week’s Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference and is ranked 22nd in the nation, will attempt to counteract Princeton’s depth with dominant individual performances, particularly by senior and captain Geoff Rathgeber.
The Lions will look to avenge a regular season in which the team did not live up to its full potential, as far as the numbers are concerned. This weekend presents the chance for Columbia to show the league just what the team is capable of.

“There’s no doubt this was one of the more frustrating dual-meet seasons in recent memory,” Fog said. “But I don’t feel our win-loss record ever reflected on our true abilities. We’ve always looked to this meet as the real test. In many ways, EISL is the first chance we have to really demonstrate what we’re capable of as swimmers. I don’t think we’re going to disappoint.”