It's championship time again.
With the regular season two weeks behind them, the Bulls travel to Bowling Green State University to participate in this year's MAC Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.
They will face tough competition, including the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks and the Eastern Michigan Eagles, both of which defeated Buffalo in a dual meet earlier this season.
UB finished the regular season with a 4-8 overall record and went 2-6 in the MAC.
The Bulls are led by sophomore Jennefer Brankovsky, who has broken seven school records in previous MAC tournaments and placed 15th in the 200-meter freestyle this year at the U.S. Open, a prestigious swim meet in which many U.S. Olympians and Olympic hopefuls compete.
Senior Katrina Sinclair holds the team's best time in the mile (a freestyle event) at 17:34:29 and the 50 free (24.62 seconds). She will also compete in the 100m freestyle, an event in which she has a team best time at 52.88 seconds.
Senior Lisa Boettrich has the best time in the 100 backstroke (1:00:57), sophomore Tanya Ng Yuen has the best time in the 100 butterfly (57.19 seconds), and sophomore Janet Reynolds has the team best in the 200 fly (2:09:27).
The team is coached by Dorsi Raynolds, who is in her 11th year at UB.
"Although this year's focus at the MAC tournament is more towards individual performance, I feel that our coaching staff promotes unity and teamwork," said Raynolds. "Some of our team members will have a chance to go to NCAA Nationals, so a strong focus on unity will help their performance."
Raynolds stressed the fact that her team has a lot of character. Academically, the Bulls are one of the best squads in the nation.
The focus on individuals is partially due to injuries to key athletes. Two divers - Tracy Hoover (stress fracture) and Kimberly LaHaye (burst ear drum) - are injured. Hoover and LaHaye were solid during last season's championships, and both earned trips to the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. This means that only one UB diver, Ashlee Burton, is competing in this year's meet. Burton does hold the Bulls' top scores this year in both one- and three-meter diving.
Buffalo has had a typically vigorous practice schedule to prepare for the upcoming MAC tournament. It is a 20-hour a week schedule consisting of Monday, Wednesday and Friday double practices. One practice is held at 6 a.m. and the other in the afternoon. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday practices are single two-hour sessions.
Despite the hard work, the Bulls will have their hands full trying to keep up with some of the conference powerhouses.
"I would have to say that Miami would have to be the favorite, followed closely by Eastern Michigan and Toledo," said Raynolds.
The Bulls traveled to Bowling Green on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The meet starts on Thursday, Feb. 27, and will run through Saturday, March 1. There are two sessions each day. The early session will be event preliminaries and the late session will be event finals.
