University at Buffalo
MAC Championships (Men)
Weather Forces Cancellation of Friday Night's MAC Finals
3/2/2012 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
OXFORD, OH – Due to severe weather in the area, Friday night's finals session of the Mid-American Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Nixon Aquatic Center has been cancelled and the results of the morning's prelims will serve as timed-finals results. The qualification spot that each swimmer earned will serve as their final finish in the event and both Friday relays will be moved to Saturday.
Three-meter diving championship finals will continue as scheduled on Saturday with the consolation finals moving from Friday evening to Saturday at 2:00 pm.
The Bulls used Friday morning's preliminary heats to their advantage to gain ground on first-place Eastern Michigan as 18 points separate the top three teams headed into Saturday's final day of competition.
Josh Meints and Christian Muller were the fastest swimmers in the 100-yard breaststroke as both set UB school records during the heats. Muller, the 2011 runner-up in the event, won his heat on Friday morning in 55.69 lowering his school record time from last season's meet by half a second. Less than two minutes later, Meints broke Muller's mark with his 54.94 clocking, earning an NCAA B cut and the first-place finish in the heats.
The Bulls had three of the top four finishers in the 100-yard butterfly as Mike Dugan, Cory Zorsch and Matt Schwippert finished second, third, and fourth, respectively, with each setting the school record. Racing in separate heats, Schwippert finished in 48.38, lowering Zorsch's 2011 record by a quarter-second. Zorsch then reclaimed the record in 47.86 before Dugan set the new mark of 47.73. Both Dugan and Zorsch earned B cuts.
UB also had three of the top finishers in the 100-yard backstroke as Schwippert finished in second place with Zorsch fourth and Eric Forrester seventh. Schwippert turned in a 48.21 clocking, earning his second B cut of the day. Zorsch finished in 49.09 and Forrester finished in 49.82. All three times were season-best marks.
Matt Hogan, last season's champion, finished second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:37.15, a tenth of a second off his school record time, earning a B cut. Jared Heine took fifth in 1:38.80.
"We are in the hunt for the championship," said head coach Andy Bashor. "We have to go out there and take it."
Competition concludes on Saturday.
Team scores (through 11 events): Eastern Michigan 383, Buffalo 366, Southern Illinois 365, Missouri State 286, Miami (OH) 252, Ball State 107, Evansville 40.
