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Chris Kostelni competes in the 200-yard freestyle during the Cornell Big Red men’s swimming and diving team’s contest against St. Bonaventure on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019 in the Kelsey Partridge Bird Natatorium at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. (Eldon Lindsay/Cornell Athletics)
Eldon Lindsay/Cornell Athletics

Men’s Swimming and Diving Off to Fast Start on Day One of Ivy Championships

2/26/2020 7:53:00 PM

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Cornell men's swimming and diving team got off to a fast start on the first day of the 2020 Ivy League Championships, posting a top-three finish in the 200-yard medley relay and breaking a 13-year old school record in the 800-yard freestyle relay on Wednesday at Harvard's Blodgett Pool in Cambridge, Mass.

The all-senior 200-yard medley relay team composed of Dylan Curtis, Ryan Brown, Jack Mahoney, and Trevor Lake came out and showed that they weren't there to mess around in the final Ivy League Championships of their career, placing third in the event with a season-best time of 1:26.64. Not only does their time sit third on Cornell's all-time top-10 list, but their third-place finish from the event marks vast improvement from last season, as the Big Red placed seventh in the relay in 2019. The third-place finish secured 54 points for Cornell in its first race of the night.

The Big Red finished just behind second-place Harvard (1:26.34) in the event, who was upset by Columbia. The Lions clinched their first 200-yard medley relay title in school history with a Blodgett Pool record time of 1:25.46.

Wes Newman '09, The Philip H. Bartels '71 Head Coach of Men's Swimming, saw a 13-year old school record that he was a part of as a student-athlete fall in the second event of the night, as the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Paige daCosta, Ricardo Martinez, Chris Kostelni, and Jake Lawson touched the wall sixth with the fastest time in Cornell men's swimming and diving history (6:31.25).

With the time, the quartet bested the previous school record of 6:32.99 that was set at the 2007 EISL Championships by Newman, Dave McKechnie, Brad Gorter, and Mike Smit.

After the first day of the Ivy Championships, Cornell sits in fifth place with 102 points and is just two points back of third-place Princeton (104) and Brown (104) and six points back of second-place Columbia (108). Harvard leads the pack through day one with 120 points.

The 2020 Ivy League Men's Swimming and Diving Championships will resume tomorrow at 11 a.m. with day two prelims. Finals will follow at 6 p.m. Fans who can't be in attendance can catch all the action on ESPN+.

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