Miami (OH) (men)
Bulls Sink RedHawks, 165-135
11/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
OXFORD, OH – The University at Buffalo men's swimming and diving team improved to 3-0 with a 165-135 victory over Mid-American Conference rival Miami (OH) on Saturday afternoon in the league opener for both squads.
The Bulls took nine of 16 events to win for the first time at Miami's Corwin Nixon Aquatic Center. It was the second straight win for the Bulls in the all-time series after UB posted a 160-131 win in Buffalo last January.
Freshman Phil Aronica was key to UB's win on Saturday. Aronica, along with sophomores Matt Schwippert and Cory Zorsch swept both backstroke races. In the 100-yard backstroke, the three Bulls all finished within one second of each other with Aronica taking the race in 51.02. Schwippert was second in 51.64 and Zorsch was third in a season-best 51.80. Aronica led the three to victory in the 200-yard backstroke, posting a season-best 1:52.98 to take first place with Schwippert (1:53.51) and Zorsch (season-best 1:54.60) taking second and third place, respectively.
Aronica also swam the opening legs of both of UB's winning relays. In the meet's opening event, the 200-yard medley relay, Aronica swam the backstroke portion of the medley as he combined with Christian Muller, Schwippert and Jared Heine to post a season-best time of 1:32.46. He also combined with Heine, Mike Dugan and Matt Hogan to a victory in the final event of the meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:06.56) to secure UB's overall victory.
Sophomore Josh Meints swept both breaststroke races in season-best times for the Bulls. Meints won the 100-yard breaststroke in 58.61 and took the 200-yard event in 2:09.78.
Also scoring individual wins were freshman Eric Culver, Dugan and senior Kenny Rhoades. Culver took the 1,000-yard freestyle in a season-best 9:35.97. Dugan also posted a season best with his win in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing in 51.19. Rhoades won the three-meter diving with a six-dive total of 325.65 points, his season-best performance.
The Bulls return home next Saturday to host Niagara at 2:00 pm at Alumni Arena Natatorium. UB's women's squad will also host the Purple Eagles at the same time.
