Bulls Break Three School Records on Day Three of MAC Championships

Friday, February 28

Buffalo, NY

Session 1 - 10:30 AM / Session 2 - 6:30 PM

University at Buffalo

MAC Championships

Bulls Break Three School Records on Day Three of MAC Championships

2/28/2020 9:46:00 PM | Swimming and Diving

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo women's swimming and diving team earned 450 points through three days of competition at the 2020 Mid-American Conference Championships. Three school records as well as a pool record were broken on Friday night as the Bulls have a firm grip on second place as they chase the University of Akron with one day to go.

Day 3 Recap
The Bulls medaled in five of the six events held on Friday night, including the 100 butterfly, 400 individual medley, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 400 medley relay. In addition, the Bulls broke three school records and a pool record on the night.

In the first event of the evening, Andrea Ernst finished third in the 100 butterfly. The senior finished with a time of 53.91. Clarice Fisher (54.58) and Jillian Lawton (54.92) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, to earn valuable points for the Bulls.

The Bulls took gold and silver in the 400 individual medley. Brittney Beetcher won the race with a time of 4:14.40 – setting a new pool record. Olivia Sapio also swam a strong race, finishing a close second with a time of 4:14.45.

Katie Pollock set a new school record en route to winning silver in the 100-yard breaststroke. The sophomore finished with a time of 1:00.78.

Nicole Roitenberg followed with a school record of her own in the 100-yard backstroke. The junior won the silver medal with a time of 53.37.

It was another silver medal for the Bulls in the 400-yard medley relay in another school-record time. Roitenberg, Pollack, Ernst and Toni Naccarella finished with a time of 3:38.33 – breaking the previous school record by over two seconds.

Naccarella placed fifth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:49.45.

STANDINGS AFTER DAY 3:
1. Akron – 524
2. BUFFALO – 450
3. Eastern Michigan – 312
4. Miami (OH) – 285
5. Toledo – 206
6. Bowling Green – 203.5
7. Ohio – 187.5
8. Ball State – 171.0

Day four of competition will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning where prelims will be held for 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and 1650 freestyle. Saturday morning's swimming preliminaries session can be live streamed here. The championship heats will start at 6:30 p.m. and can be live streamed here.

For complete day one results, click here (PDF). For day two results, click here (PDF). For day three results, click here (PDF).

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.

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.