Swimming teams sink Canisius

In their first dual-meet of the season, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams both achieved mutual satisfaction as both defeated local rival Canisius on Friday night. The men's team won 138-70 in its first home meet, while the women won by a count of 136-79.

With the win, the men's team improves to 3-0 on the season, while the Golden Griffins' men's squad drops to 0-5. The victory for the Bulls was the 15th straight in the series.

The most notable member of the men's team was freshman diver Michael McDowell. McDowell tied the school-record in the one-meter race. McDowell earned a six-dive total of 314.10 points and tied the mark set by Patrick Lee in 2004.

"This is a tremendous accomplishment," said men's head coach Budd Termin. "He worked hard to train for this moment and now he did it."

Another freshman that has performed well in the beginning of the season is Andrew Tamchyna. Tamchyna won the 200-yard backstroke in a time of 1:55.54. This was a season-high time for Tamchyna, and it helped him remain undefeated in the event for the year.

Buffalo had two swimmers that won first-place in two different events. Freshman Connor Vander Zalm swam in the 1,000-yard freestyle and earned a season-best time of 9:53.91. He also raced in the 100-yard freestyle and finished with a time of 50.11. Freshman Scott Woster won both the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard butterfly. Woster earned a time of 2:04.50 in the medley and a 1:58.65 in the butterfly.

Other winners for the Bulls were sophomores Zach Ruske, Kevin Schuster, Michael Gerlach, and freshman Kevin Song. Ruske won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:45.71. Schuster's time of 22.52 earned him first-place in the 50-yard freestyle. Song was victorious in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:15.77. Gerlach earned a season-high time in the 500-yard freestyle with a 4:48.44.

"The team is swimming good," Termin said. "There are bits of improvements in every meet. The guys trained hard in the fall and the results are showing up."

The women swimmers continued to perform well. With the victory, Buffalo now moves their record to 2-4, 0-4 Mid-American Conference. Canisius fell to 1-6 with the loss.

"I am very pleased with the way the team swam," said women's head coach Andy Bashor. "This was the third meet of the week and it looked like nobody had tired legs today."

Buffalo came out strong in the first race of the meet. The Bulls claimed first, second and third in the 400-yard medley relay. The winning team of freshman Laura Powalski, senior Danielle Gervais, junior Cassy Oliveri and sophomore Rachel Sorg completed the race in 4:09.57.

The stand-out swimmer in the meet was freshman Meili Carpenter. Carpenter crushed a 14-year old record in the three-meter dive. Her score of 321.79 points shattered the previous mark of 302.65 by Janet Ward. Carpenter also remained undefeated in the one-meter dive by scoring a season-high 291.82 in six dives.

Other winners for Buffalo were seniors Kahla Walkinshaw, Frances Stephenson and Eugenie Viale, and junior Meghan Lafferty. Walkinshaw finished the 1,000-yard freestyle event in 10:37.83, an astonishing eight seconds ahead of the next swimmer. Stephenson was victorious in the 200-yard backstroke notching a time of 2:14.43. Viale raced in the 200-yard butterfly event and recorded a time of 2:16.76 and Lafferty completed the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 25.03.

The freshmen continued to excel in the beginning of the season. Kimberly Dale claimed first-place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 56.17. Ashley Schaffert took first-place in the 200-yard individual medley and earned a time of 2:15.05. Samantha Palma received first-place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.57.

"We still need to work on the little things," Bashor said. "It is important to try to improve the overall level of training. With a couple of meets under our belts, the girls feel more comfortable now."

Both the men and the women will continue their seasons when they travel to Akron, Ohio to participate in the SummaCare Invitational. The meet is scheduled to take place from Dec. 1-3.