St. Bonaventure (Men)
UB Swimmers Sweep St. Bonaventure in Regular Season Finales
2/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
ST. BONAVENTURE, NY – The University at Buffalo men's and women's swimming and diving teams completed the regular season on Saturday afternoon by sweeping local rival St. Bonaventure at the Reilly Center. The UB men knocked off the Bonnies, 150-92, while the UB women scored a 149-92 win.
The Bulls won 20 of the 26 events on the day with the men's team taking 11 and the women claiming nine. Brynn Marecki was the only individual to win more than one event for the Bulls.
Marecki won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:12.42 and later took the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:24.05. She also swam the breaststroke portion of the UB's women's victorious 200-yard medley relay as the Bulls finished in 1:47.89. Joining Marecki were Melissa Trail, Marissa Murphy and Brittney Kuras.
Kuras won the 100-yard freestyle in 51.93 while Murphy took the 50-yard freestyle in 24.92. Murphy also swam in the winning 200-yard freestyle relay (1:37.80), joined by Spencer Rodriguez, Claudia Doyle and Mallory Morrell. Alie Schirmers took the 500-yard freestyle in 5:10.96.
The UB women swept the diving competitions as both Rachel Eckert and Ava Giachino posted season-best marks. Eckert won the one-meter springboard with 291.38 points while Giachino took the three-meter event with 283.12 points.
For the UB men, Eric Culver set a season-best mark in winning the 500-yard freestyle in 4:43.67. Other freestyle winners for the Bulls included Jared Heine in the 50 (21.17), Mike Dugan in the 100 (46.33) and Matt Hogan in the 200 (1:41.14).
Josh Meints took the 200-yard individual medley in 1:58.16. Cory Zorsch won the 100-yard butterfly in 50.28. Matt Schwippert claimed the 200-yard backstroke in 1:51.33. John Nord won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:11.62. Chris Iafrati posted his second season-best diving mark of the weekend as he won the 1-meter event with 302.85 points. Iafrati set a season-best mark on the three-meter board in Friday's meet at Penn State.
The UB men also swept the relay races. In the opening race, the 200-yard medley relay, the UB foursome of Phil Aronica, Meints, Schwippert and Ryan Smrekar touched first in 1:34.66. In the day's final race, the 200-yard freestyle relay, composed of Zorsch, Smrekar, Dugan and Heine, won in 1:23.69.
"It's a good win to get at St. Bona," said head coach Andy Bashor. "It's not an easy place to compete. We finished the dual season on a good note and are now ready to show what can do at MAC's in a couple of weeks."
The UB men finished the regular season with 6-1 dual record, the only blemish coming in Friday's loss at Penn State. The UB women close out the regular season winning their final six dual competitions and claiming a 7-2 record.
Both squads now set their sights on the Mid-American Conference Championships. The women's meet will be held in Akron, OH starting February 22 while the UB men will defend their league crown starting March 1 in Oxford, OH.
