University at Buffalo
WNY Invite
Swimming and Diving Start 2015-16 Season Strong
10/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Florida Gulf Coast Classic Results
Western NY Invite Morning Session Results
Western NY Invite Afternoon Session Results
The University at Buffalo, the State University of New York swimming and diving teams competed at both the Western New York Inivite on Saturday and the Florida Gulf Coast Classic over the weekend. The Western New York Invite consisted of both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams and was team score was not kept. The FGC Classic featured only UB swimmers and team score was tabulated.
Florida Gulf Coast Classic - Friday and Saturday Sessions
The Bulls performed well at the first day of the two-day Florida Gulf Coast Classic. On the day the women's team had six sixth-place finsihes or better, including a second-place finish by Jess Powers in the 200 yard freestyle. Her time of 1:52.64 was .28 better than the next finish and earned the Bulls 13 points.
Buffalo finished well in the women's 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:45.11. The team of Mallory Buha, Sharne Tiller, Julia Box, and Megan Burns finished in fifth place and scored 20 points. In the 50 freestyle Megan Burns earned 12 points with her third-place finish by swimming a time of 23.34. Julia Box's time of 57.50 and sixth-place finish in the 100 yard butterfly earned the Bulls nine points.
Mallory Buha finished in sixth and earned the Bulls nine points in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:09.09. Alexis Valedon swam 1:07.58 in the 100 yard backstroke earning a sixth-place finish and nine points towards the team score. Sarah Baxter, Box, Eve Kosten, and Burns swam 3:30.72 in the 400 yard freestyle relay. They finished in fifth place and earned 20 points for Buffalo.
The men's team had seven top-three finishes, including Itai De La Vega's first-place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke. His time of 55.29 earned Buffalo 16 points and is less than a minute slower than his school-record time of 54.20 accomplished last season.
In the 200 yard medley relay Buffalo earned 24 points with their third-place finish. Hudson Carroll, De La Vega, Mason Miller and Antonio Lanzi swam the event in a time of 1:31.72, which was only 1.84 seconds behind the second-place relay team from South Carolina.
Billy Patrum impressed in the 200 yard freestyle finishing the race in third with a time of 1:42.23. Antonio Lanzi's time of 20.95 in the 50 yard freestyle was good enough for a third-place finish and 12 points towards the team score. Buffalo men's swimming sat third, while the women's team was in fifth place after the first 16 events (day one).
On Saturday Buffalo returned to the pool for the conclusion of the Florida Gulf Coast Classic.
In the first event of the day, University at Buffalo's men's swimming 400 meter freestyle relay team consisting of Lanzi, Eric Jensen, Jonathan Ekas, and Miller finished in third place with a time of 3:04.71. They also accumulated 24 points towards the team's overall score. The women followed with a fifth place finish in the 400 yard medley relay with a time of 3:52.26 and earned 20 team points before the men's 400 medley relay team finished third. Hudson Carroll, De Le Vega, Miller, and Lanzi swam the event in a time of 3:25.71 to earn 24 team points.
Baxter swam to a sixth-placed finish in the 100 yard IM with a time of 59.49. Powers powered through in the 500 yard freestyle to finish in fourth with a time of 5:01.91 and only .03 seconds behind Taylor Worrell of Sotuh Carolina who finished in third.
Charles Barry swam well in the 500 yard freestyle to earn a third-place finish in a time of 4:40.51. Garrett Clarke's time of 2:04..89 in the men's 200 yard breaststroke earned a second-place finish and 13 team points. Caroll swam a time of 53.75 to finish third in the 100 yard backtroke, while Megan Burns narrowly missed out on second by .12 second to finish in third with a time of 50.84.
Mason Miller's fourth place finish in the 100 yard freestyle helped the team earn 11 points, before Julia Box earned 11 points herself in the 200 yard butterfly in her fourth-place finish.
Overall, UB finished in fifth place and 258 points on the women's side, while the men's score of 353 earned them a third-place finish. The FGC Classic was a good opportunity for the Bulls to swim against top teams in the country and challenge themselves as their season continues throughout the Fall and Winter months.
Western NY Invite - Morning Swim Session
During the morning swim session of the West New York Invite, the Bulls impressed in the poll by finishing first in eight out of the twelve events a UB student-athlete was apart of. In total there were 15 total events in the first session of the day.
UB started of the day with a first place finish in the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:51.37 barely beating on St. Bonaventrue's A relay by .03 seconds. The winning relay team consisted of Kelliann Valedon, Cristina Czyrka, Victoria Buttler and Catherine Schultheis on the last leg.
In the 500 yard freestyle Brittner Walters and Claudia Casale finished second and third with times of 5:18.90 and 5:24.76, respectively. Just like their counterparts, the men's swimming team impressed in the 500 yard freestyle. Bill Caffee led the way with a time of 4:45.96 with Tudor Puszet and Callum Liddiard finishing in third and fifth place with times of 4:49.57 and 4:53.81.
Victoria Butler shined in the first half of the swim meet with a first-place finish in the 200 yard IM (2:11.66) and a third-place finish of 2:11.10 in the 200 yard butterfly, while Brittany Walters finished second place with a time of 2:10.60 and only .11 behind a first-place finish.
Zach Towers swam to a first-place finish in the men's 200 IM (1:59.76). In the women's 50 yard freestyle race Catherine Schultheis (24.91), Rachael Bertini (25.34), and Gloria Melofchik (25.65) swam to top-three finishes. Aaron Durrence narrowly finished in first place in the 50 yard free style with a time of 21.33. St. Bonaventure's Michael Pilyugin finished only .07 seconds behind.
Tudor Puszet (1:56.66) and Callum Liddiard (1:57.44) sawm to first and third in the 200 yard butterfly. Swimming in the 100 yard breaststroke, Cristinia Czyrka and Holly Olsen earned first and second with times of 1:08.75 and 1:09.59, while Bill Caffee finished fourth with a time of 1:01.46 in the men's 100 yard breastroke.
UB swimmers found three of the top-five finishes in the 200 yard backstroke with Claudia Casale finishing first (2:10.41), Gloria Melofchik swiming to a third place finish (2:14.95), and Kelliann Valedon completing her second top-five finish of the morning session (2:15.31).
Western NY Invite - Diving Session
Just like in the pool during the morning session, the Bulls dominated in the diving well. In the one meter dive the women finished in four out of the five top spots. Abbey Croce finished first with a score of 241.05 and Mackenzie Moss also finished above 200 points with a score of 221.30. In Elyse Piseczny's first collegiate diving competition she scored 193.05, which was good enough for fourth place. On the men's side in the one-meter dive, UB's four divers all finished within the top-six. Troy Birdsall won first with a score of 245.90. Daniel Roche placed second with 240.70. Rounding out the standings for Buffalo was Kristian Santos in fourth (209.00) and Derek Linebaugh in sixth (197.95).
Buffalo's success continued in the three meter dive as well. In the men's event the Bulls swept first through fourth. Dan Roche topped the standings with a score of 298.50. Derek Linebaugh, Kristian Santos, and Troy Birdsall had scores of 292.60, 258.20, and 256.15. The women also swept first through fourth-place is the three-meter dive. Moss broke the 200 point threshold with a score of 205.90 to win the event. Moran (192.45), Croce (184.25), and Piseczny (173.40) finished in second, third, and fourth place, respectively.
Western NY Invite - Afternoon Swim Session
Buffalo started their afternoon session how they left off in the morning. UB had 17 top-five finishers in the fourteen events, including first-place finishes in four events.
The most impressive event of the afternoon session came when three swimmers finished in the top-three spots during the 400 yard IM. Victoria Butler, Brittney Walters, and Claudia Casale finished in times of 4:36.95, 4:43.58, and 4:45.01, resxpectively. The women's 200 yard freestyle relay team swam in a time of 1:40.91; the second place relay team finished almost five seconds after Buffalo.
All in all, Buffalo showed skill and potential as both swimming and diving teams look towards improving all season leading up to the MAC Championships, which both teams hope to win this season. They laid a good foundation as another season is about us.
The next competition for the men's and women's teams will be on October 17 against Cornell, which is slated to begin at 1:00 pm.
