University at Buffalo
Women''s MAC Championships
Burns, Powers Launch Bulls into Second Place at Day 2 of MAC Championships
2/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO - UB women's swimming and diving team shined against their MAC foes on the second day of the MAC Championship. The Bulls found success in the preliminary events with eight individuals participating in the evening session (finals or consolation finals) and currently sit in second place overall.
Megan Burns had a historic night as she broke the 50 yard freestyle MAC Championship record, MAC record, Cooper Pool record, UB record, and hit an NCAA B Cut with her time of 22.16 in the opening leg of the 200 freestyle relay. While she didn't hit an NCAA A Cut and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, there is a good shot that she will be invited for her stellar performance. The Bulls' 200 freestyle relay team consisting of Burns, Catherine Schultheis, Eve Kosten, and Sarah Baxter finished second overall with a time of 1:30.64.
Burns' record-setting performance comes moments after she just missed breaking the school record of 22.24 during the 50 freestyle event. However, she won her second-straight 50 freestyle finals event at MAC Championship with a time of 22.36. In her two years at UB so far, she has won every 50 freestyle event race against MAC opponents whether in dual meet or invitational scoring format.
Jessica Powers laid a solid foundation for Buffalo in the evening session. She won the 500 freestyle for the third-straight year at MAC's with an NCAA B cut time of 4:47.63. In the consolation finals, Hannah Miller swam a time of 4:53.38, which was an improvement of almost two seconds from her preliminary time, to win the heat. Between the two 500 freestyle finals heats, the Bulls earned 29 points.
The 50 freestyle saw three different individuals advance to the finals session. Kosten won the consolation finals heat in a season-best time of 23.07, which is also sixth-best in school history. As mentioned above, Burns won the 50 freestyle event with a time of 22.36 and earned 20 team points. Baxter finished fourth and earned UB 15 team points with a fifth-best time in program history of 22.93. In the 50 freestyle heats alone, the Bulls earned 44 team points.
UB's divers found equal success as the swimmers as they competed in the one-meter dive event. Abbey Croce and Mackenzie Moss reached the finals, while Kelly Moran finished in the top-16 to reach the consolation finals. In the end Croce and Moss finished fifth and eighth with scores of 281.50 and 268.25, respectively, while Moran earned a score of 216.45 to finish in 15th. Collectively, the divers added 27 team points.
Overall, the Bulls are off to a strong start after two days at the MAC Championships. They currently sit in second place with a score of 198 points and only .5 points ahead of Eastern Michigan. Akron holds a commanding lead in first place with 3:15.50 points.
The MAC Championships resume on Friday with the preliminary heats set to begin at 11:00 am.
Team Scores after Day 2 of the MAC Championships
1. Akron - 315.50
2. Buffalo - 198
3. Eastern Michigan - 197.50
4. Bowling Green - 160
5. Miami (Ohio) - 147
6. Ohio - 130
7. Toledo - 108
8. Ball State - 72
