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And you thought Linsanity was over…
Great news coming out of the men’s tennis team, as the Lions learned on Tuesday night they received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Ranked No. 42 in the country, it clearly would have been a great injustice to leave the Lions out of the 64-team tournament.
The Light Blue will begin its quest for a National Championship by squaring off against No. 31 VCU (22-4) in its first match next Saturday, May 12 at the University of Virginia.
Should the Lions win, they’ll face the winner of the match between Virginia (24-1) and Fairleigh Dickinson (15-8). The host school, Virginia, is the overall No. 3 seed in the tournament—but that’s why they play the matches. Just ask Duke.
Continue reading after the jump for an update.
She may hit the books hard, but Iani Alecsiu hits tennis balls even harder
Though she’s only a sophomore, Iani Alecsiu, CC ’14, has demanded on-court attention since her first appearance in the fall of 2010. The Bucharest, Romania native arrived at Columbia with numerous junior titles, such as the Romanian National Junior Team Champion in both 2007 and 2008, and she’s since lived up to her potential.
Alecsiu’s subtle wit shined through as she sat down to answer some questions for Spectrum. Want to know how she preps for the big match? Or have you ever noticed that she looks a lot like a certain celebrity?
Read on after the jump for the latest installment of “five questions” with this tennis sensation. More »
Lions finish the season by thrashing Penn’s pitching
The Lions closed out their season with a bang, taking three out of four games from the Penn Quakers to finish with a 21-24 overall record and a 12-8 record in Ivy play. Despite having the fourth-best record of all eight Ivy teams, the Lions finished in third place in the Lou Gehrig division, behind Cornell and Princeton.
It was a good season for the Lions, overall, as they finished with 20-plus wins for the third time in the last five seasons. Of course, the team would have preferred to be playing next weekend in the Ivy League Championship Series, but with so few Ivy contests, each one is so important to determining the eventual division winners. So with that, let’s take a look back on this past weekend with the final “three quick thoughts” of the season. More »
For Stella Zhao, if there’s a lane there’s a way
Columbia College freshman Stella Zhao recently fulfilled a lifelong dream by competing in the Canadian Olympic trials. The swimming star and Ontario native recently sat down with Spectrum for an interview covering her life and what role swimming plays in it.
Spectrum: When did you first start swimming, and could you tell me about how you first got into it?
Stella Zhao: I started swimming through lessons because my sister took lessons. Later I joined a club.
Spectrum: What is your favorite memory of your swimming career?
SZ: My first race after I sustained a really bad injury that put me out of competition for a year. When I finally got to race again, it was an amazing feeling. More »
Wall-ball and good teammates have led to Johnson’s lacrosse success
This past week, Columbia College junior Kacie Johnson was named Ivy League Player of the Week for her routinely exceptional performance on Columbia’s lacrosse team. The Wilton, Conn. native may wear her hair in demure pigtails on the field, but this attacker has repeatedly lived up to her position’s name. With 42 games played, 108 goals, 70 assists, and 178 points scored along with All-Ivy League membership, Johnson is easily one of the most sensational lacrosse players at Columbia today.
Johnson recently sat down with Spectrum to answer a few questions. Want to know to what she attributes her lacrosse success? Or how about what athlete she’s dying to go out with?
Intrigued? Read after the jump for the latest installment of “five questions.” More »
Despite being eliminated from the division title, Lions make mincemeat out of the Princeton Tigers
Playing at home has been quite sweet for the Lions in Ivy play, as they won three out of four games this weekend against the Princeton Tigers. The three wins brought the Lions’ record to 17-22, 9-7 in Ivy play. In a way, the three wins avenged last year’s series with the Tigers, where Princeton took three out of the four games to take Columbia out of contention for the Lou Gehrig division title. In much the same way, the Light Blue’s three wins this weekend combined with Cornell’s three wins mean that Princeton will have to take all four from the Big Red next weekend to claim the division.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned Big Red wins also mean that the Lions have been eliminated from winning the division title. But regardless, it was great to see the Lions string those wins together after struggling at Cornell. So let’s go back over some of those highs of the weekend in this week’s “three quick thoughts.” More »
If you like to play golf or get a nice run in, you’re probably hot this week
In this week’s who’s hot, who’s not, we’ve got good news from the golf team, good news for runners, but bad news if you’re a fan of a couple New York baseball teams.
Who’s hot?
Sports I tell myself I’m going to learn
Being that golf is as much of a life skill nowadays as a good handshake, I should probably learn how to play it. And, if I were looking for lessons, some individuals I might ask would be on Columbia’s golf team.
In the Princeton Invitational, the men’s team finished in third place, just two strokes behind the champion, Yale. On the women’s side, the Light Blue took second place behind Harvard. Sophomore Michelle Piyapattra took first place in the individual competition at the tournament, defending her title from last year.
So, note to self: work on the handshake, and learn to golf from Columbia’s team. More »
CCSC class president one day, sharp shooting archer the next
You may know Sarah Chai as the outgoing senior CCSC Class President, but there is so much more to her than that. This feature in today’s paper by Laura Allen takes a look at Chai’s archery prowess, including her quest to to be featured on the US 2012 London Olympics team. Check out the video below to see Chai in action and hear her story in her own words.
Lions football shows it knows the value of social media
I think it’s pretty safe to say that if you’re reading this, you’re at the very least somewhat familiar with various social media websites—Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the like.
When it comes to sports, Twitter has probably done more than any of the other popular social media sites to revolutionize the way fans interact with their favorite teams. And fortunately, we’re right in the thick of the whole revolution here at Columbia.
In what I believe is part of a campaign to help rebrand the program, the football team has dramatically upped their social media presence in the last few months with the arrival of head coach Pete Mangurian. More »
Do you get pumped up with dubstep like Ian Winthrop?
The Columbia men’s heavyweight rowing team could easily be described as the epitome of a sports team, and Columbia College senior Ian Winthrop is a deserving member of such a group. The Roxbury, Conn., native rowed on the Freshman Eights his first year and has since helped bring the heavyweights to the Eastern Sprints in 2010, with numerous other accomplishments for Columbia, as a member of the Varity Eights and Fours teams.
With his final year as a Columbia Lion coming to an end, Winthrop sat down with Spectrum at answer a few questions. Want to know his pump-up playlist? Or how old he would choose to be for the rest of his life?
Need to know? Read after the jump for the latest installment of “five questions” with this larger-than-life rower. More »