Bulls Host Eastern Michigan

Friday, November 6

120

180

Eastern Michigan

11/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men's and women's swimming and diving team hosted the Eastern Michigan Eagles in their first home Mid-American Conference dual meet of the season. The women beat the Eagles by a score of 166-128 to earn their first MAC win of the season to improve to 2-2 overall (1-2 MAC), while the men dropped their first MAC meet of the year, 180-120, to the reigning MAC champs to even their record at 1-1 overall (0-1 MAC).

The women jumped out to a quick lead, taking a 1-2 finish in the 400 medley relay, as the team of Jessica Ballard, Brynn Marecki, Sam Palma and Caroline Simmons finished first in a time of 3:52.78, while the foursome of Caitlin Reilly, Alie Schirmers, Sam Eckert and Karly Moore touched out the EMU squad in a time of 3:55.97 to take the second-place spot. Reilly took first in the 100 backstroke in a time of 59.29, while Marecki placed first in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:04.66 to build the Bulls' lead. Simmons picked up first-place points in the 50 freestyle, swimming to a time of 23.57 to give the Bulls a 71-60 lead going into the first diving break.

Simmons also took first in the 100 freestyle (51.47) to sweep the sprint events for the day. Marecki won the 200 breaststroke in 2:20.03 to give her a sweep of the breaststroke events as well. Ballard cruised to a first-place finish in the 200 backstroke, winning in a time of 2:06.43, with Reilly finishing close behind in 2:08.98 to give the Bulls a 1-2 finish in the event. The 100 butterfly event was dominated by Buffalo, as the Bulls took the top three spots with Jessie Koltz taking the top spot in 57.03, followed by Palma (58.08) and Eckert (58.64), taking second and third, respectively. Schirmers wrapped up the individual events with a win in the 200 IM (2:20.26) to secure the women's first MAC win of the season.

On the men's side, Jared Heine earned the top spot in the 200 freestyle, touching out the Eastern Michigan competition by just three-hundreths of a second, winning the event in 1:43.87. The Bulls got another first-place finish from freshman Matt Schwippert in the 100 butterfly (51.67). Schwippert also picked up points in the 200 butterfly, finishing second in a time of 1:56.31. The men wrapped up the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay as the team of Simon Proudfoot, Matt Hogan, Heine and Chad Miller finished in a time of 3:07.97, but it was not enough to get by the Eagles as the team suffered its first loss of the season.

Buffalo diving had a successful night on the boards, with Meili Carpenter sweeping the one- and three-meter events, finishing with scores of 288.14 and 341.25, respectively. Newcomer Kenny Rhoades earned 280.87 points on the one-meter board to earn first-place points for the men, as well.

The Bulls will be back in the pool tomorrow with a dual meet against Ball State. The meet is set to begin at 1 pm at UB's Alumni Arena Natatorium.