UB in Second Place after Two Days of Competition

Wednesday, February 26

Buffalo, NY

6:30 PM

MAC Championships

UB in Second Place after Two Days of Competition

2/27/2020 9:20:00 PM | Swimming and Diving

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo women's swimming and diving team earned 251.5 points through two days of competition at the 2020 Mid-American Conference Championships. The Bulls veteran leadership have helped the underclassmen throughout the season and it has shown thus far at this year's championships. UB has a firm grip on second place as they chase the University of Akron.

Day 1 Recap
The Bulls shot out of a canon to start the championship festivities as the team captured the silver medal in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Andrea Ernst, Katie Pollock, Jillian Lawton and Katelyn Burns finished with a new school record time of 1:38.82, passing the 2017 time by .68 seconds.

The second event of the day was the 800-yard freestyle relay. This marked the first time this season the Bulls competed in the event. Brittney Beetcher, Antonia Naccarella, Jenna Krull and Nicole Roitenberg finished in a time of 7:15.38, the time ranks fifth in UB team history. This time captured the silver medal for the Bulls.

Day 2 Recap
The events that took place on the second day of championships were the 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay and the 1-meter dive.

In the 500 freestyle, Brittney Beetcher claimed the silver medal with a finals time of 4:46.23.

Sophomore Katie Pollock and junior Olivia Sapio made the 200 IM finals. Sapio finished in fifth place with a time of 2:01.28, this time marks a season-best time. Pollock finished in a time of 2:01.35 for sixth place. Her time now moves her to fourth all-time in the event in UB's history.

A whopping five Bulls competed in the 50 freestyle out of the possible eight positions. Of those, Antonia Naccarella took gold in a season-best time of 22.48 seconds. Jillian Lawton was right behind as she claimed the silver medal just .16 seconds behind her teammate for a time of 22.64 seconds. Andrea Ernst (fifth place – 22.83), Katelyn Burns (sixth place – 22.87) and Elinor Duley (eighth place – 23.03) all had competitive races.

In the final swimming event of the day, the Bulls placed second in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Burns, Lawton, Ernst and Naccarella finished with a new program record time of 1:29.89. They earned the silver medal in a heated contest.

In the diving well, freshman Victoria Franz made her MAC Championship debut. She went on to receive the silver medal with a total score of 296.58 in the 1-meter dive.

STANDINGS AFTER DAY 2:
1. Akron – 295
2. BUFFALO – 251.5
3. Eastern Michigan – 178
4. Miami (OH) – 143
5. Bowling Green – 128
6. Toledo – 120
7. Ball State – 115
8. Ohio – 97.5

Day three of competition will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning where prelims will be held for 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and the 3-meter dive. Friday morning's swimming preliminaries session can be live streamed here. While the diving preliminaries can be found here. The championship heats will start at 6:30 p.m. and can be live streamed here.

For complete day one results, click here. For day two results, click here.