NEW YORK, N.Y. –– Columbia (4-4) won the first four events to be contested to jump out to an early lead on the Navy (11-3) men's swimming team the Lions would not relinquish in a 161-137 victory over the Mids Friday afternoon at Uris Natatorium in New York.
 
"We're a little frustrated with our showing today," said Navy head coach Bill Roberts.  "Coming off of our last meet (a win over both North Carolina and Penn State two weeks ago), we were expecting a lot more today in terms of our performance.  That falls on me as we were just not as prepared as we needed to be when competing in this venue.  We fought well, but the credit goes to Columbia for how they competed."
 
The Lions began the meet by placing first in the three-meter diving competition, first and second in the 200 medley relay, first in the 1000 free and first and second in the 200 free.  That boosted Columbia out to an early 40-24 advantage.
 
Navy had success in the next two events, which pulled the Mids to within 12 points at 52-40.  James Wilson (Jr., Ephrata, Pa.) won the 100 backstroke for Navy with his time of 50.12, then Dean Nguyen (So., Seattle, Wash.), Michael Velazquez (Sr., Henderson, Nev.) and Chris Bondarowicz (So., Scotch Plains, N.J.) placed first (55.61), second (56.68) and third (56.78), respectively, in the 100 breaststroke.
 
The Lions would respond by winning the ensuing four events to solidify their advantage.
 
Navy's remaining two victories came when Billy Cadigan (So., Lutherville, Md.) posted a time of 1:50.50 to win the 200 back by one one-hundredth of a second and Velazquez touched the wall in a time of 1:52.57 to win the 200 individual medley.
 
The Mids will compete in the non-scoring Bison Invite on Feb. 2 in what will be their last meet before the start of the championship portion of Navy's season.