The eight-hour bus ride home Saturday was especially long for the men's and women's swimming and diving teams after both were drowned at the hands of the Ohio Bobcats.
Even with four first-place finishes, the UB women (3-6 overall, 0-5 Mid-American Conference) were decisively outscored 131-101 at the Ohio Aquatic Center. Meanwhile, the men's team was beaten handily by the Bobcat swimmers, 125-74, which dropped Buffalo to 2-3 overall and 0-3 in the MAC.
Junior Kahla Walkinshaw led the way for the women with first-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle, the 200-yard butterfly and swam first on the 400-yard freestyle relay team en route to another first-place finish.
Swimming in the 400-yard freestyle relay along with Walkinshaw were seniors Jennifer Raimondi and Olga Wojcik, along with freshman Rachel Sorg. Raimondi also had second place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly.
Despite the loss, the women's coaching staff remained positive and looking towards the future.
"Everyone was right on where they should be this time of year. From swimmers to divers everyone performed really well," said head coach Scott Vanderzell. "We're going to continue on the track that we are on, because we're working towards (the MAC championships)."
UB also had a first-place finish from junior Julie Marcotte, who hit the wall at 2:27.44 in the 200-yard breaststroke.
The loss makes three straight road-defeats for the women, who have only one win on the road this season.
"You sit on a bus for eight hours and then have to perform at the top level. It's pretty tough," Vanderzell said. "Your body gets tight and stiff. We try to do a lot of different things to loosen them up and get them ready to go."
Vanderzell added that the strenuous travel is one of the greatest challenges of being a part of the MAC.
"I think for the most part it worked out pretty well, but as always, it's a huge difference without having their home fans there to cheer them on," he said. "That's the toughest part about this conference, the travel."
Ohio diver Jessica Orlov won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, while the Bobcats had six different swimmers take first-place finishes on their trek to victory. With the win, the Ohio women improved to 6-2-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the MAC.
The UB men wrote a similar story Saturday as they also had four first-place finishes, but couldn't hold off the Ohio swimmers.
Junior Luke Adams led the way for the UB men, taking first in both the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke. Senior Jeff Hurst also tallied a first-place finish, winning the 400-yard individual medley, and finished second in the 100-yard freestyle. The only other UB second-place finish came from senior Kevin Gatley in the 200-yard freestyle.
"They swam some of their best performances, and if you look closely you'll see that many of the races were really very close," said men's head coach Bud Termin. "I think Ohio swam very well, and I think we swam well."
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, UB's team of Adams, Hurst, freshman Kevin Schuster and the anchor Gatley took a first-place finish with a time of 3:11.49.
Ohio's Donald Jupp took both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle, leading Ohio, along with Charlie Sparks who won the 500-yard freestyle. The Bobcats victory improved their record to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the MAC.
The UB men will be back in action again on Jan. 26 when they head to St. Bonaventure University to battle the Bonnies in a non-conference match-up, looking to get back to .500.
"All we're going to do is keep the improvements going," Termin said.
The UB women's team won't be back in action until Saturday, Jan. 28, when it hosts Bowling Green in Alumni Arena Natatorium. The Bulls will be looking for their first MAC win this season and second consecutive win at home.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
