University at Buffalo
Akron Invite
Swim Teams Open Zippy Invitational With Six Victories
12/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
AKRON, OH – The University at Buffalo men's and women's swimming and diving teams posted six first-place finishes as the opening night of the 2011 Zippy Invitational came to a conclusion at the University of Akron's Ocasek Natatorium. After the first night of competition both teams stand in second place.
UB swept the night's opening relay final as the Bulls took first place finishes in the men's and women's 200-yard freestyle relay. In the men's race, the UB foursome of Josh Meints, Cory Zorsch, Mike Dugan and Jared Heine set a meet and pool record with their finish of 1:22.46. UB's B foursome of Tommy Steele, Phil Aronica, Christian Muller and Ryan Smrekar placed third in 1:24.09 in the timed final.
The UB women had equal success in Friday's 200-yard freestyle relay as the foursome of Marissa Murphy, Brittney Kuras, Taylor Steffl and Mallory Morrell won the final in 1:32.94, cutting two seconds off the previous season best and just missing the meet record by .02 seconds.
The UB men took first and fourth in the 400-yard medley relay finals. The A squad of Aronica, Matt Hogan, Matt Schwippert and Dugan won the title in 3:18.70, again setting meet and pool records. The B team of Travis Bohn, Meints, Zorsch and Smrekar placed fourth in 3:25.37.
Hogan won the men's 200-yard individual medley in 1:50.84 with Meints placing seventh in the A final in 1:55.28.
Morrell won the women's 50-yard freestyle in 23.29, lowering her season-best time of 23.40 which she had set in the morning preliminaries. Steffl was sixth in the A final in 24.02. In the B final, Taylor Snyder finished sixth (14th overall) in 24.34 with Karly Moore placing eighth (16th overall) in 24.72.
Colin Patrican broke the meet and facility record on his way to winning the men's three-meter diving event. Patrican scored 348.80 points for his six dives in the preliminary round and finished Friday's final with a total score of 317.25, easily outdistancing second-place finisher Ian O'Rourke of Niagara (288.60). Chris Iafrati finished sixth with 252.20 points in the final round.
The Bulls also posted three second-place finishes in Friday's finals.
In the women's 200-yard individual medley, Murphy took second in 2:03.37, cutting more than three seconds off her preliminary performance. Kuras finished third in 2:04.97, lowering her season best by two seconds. Brynn Marecki won the B final to place ninth overall in 2:05.48 with Alie Schirmers finishing fifth (13th overall) in 2:09.43.
In the men's 50-yard freestyle, Dugan placed second in a season-best 20.62 with Heine taking fourth in 20.96, also a season best. Smrekar finished third in the B final (11th overall) in a season-best 21.27 with Zorsch placing fifth (13th overall) in 21.45.
The women's foursome of Melissa Trail, Marecki, Murphy and Kuras finished second to Toledo in the 400-yard medley relay. The Bulls turned in a season-best time of 3:48.52.
Women's diver Ava Giachino finished sixth on the one-meter springboard with a total of 230.50 points for her six dives in the final round. She scored 242.00 in the preliminaries.
"I'm very happy with our effort in our performances tonight. We had a lot of exciting moments," said UB head coach Andy Bashor. "We are making the changes to our races which will let us perform better at the end of the season."
The UB men, last year's team champions, stand second in the team race with 477 points as Army leads the nine-team men's event with 509 points. The UB women are second in the 14-team meet with 410.5 points, trailing Mid-American Conference rival Ohio's 519.
Competition continues through Sunday.
Men's team scores (through six events): Army 509, Buffalo 477, Clarion 450, Xavier 323, St. Bonaventure 249, Niagara 200, Indiana (PA) 183, Bloomsburg 122, Shippensburg 121.
Women's team scores (through six events): Ohio 519, Buffalo 410.5, Toledo 342, Illinois State 305, Army 224, Akron 206, Clarion 196, Xavier 133, Indiana (PA) 127.5, Bloomsburg 121.5, Duquesne 89.5, St. Bonaventure 77, Shippensburg 59, Niagara 58.
