After losing all of its Mid-American Conference meets, it was no surprise that the women's swimming and diving team came up short at the MAC Championships last weekend in Ypsilanti, Mich. Buffalo finished the four-day event with 200 points, which was good for eighth-place out of eight teams.
Host school Eastern Michigan pulled out the victory to claim the conference championship with a total score of 665 points. Ohio came in second with 618 points and Miami (Ohio) was in third place with 596 points.
"I am happy with the way the team performed," said head coach Andy Bashor. "This is a very young team where 10 of the 20 swimmers are freshman. I am pleased by the way they swam this season and they know there is room for improvement."
The one bright spot for Buffalo in the tournament was freshman Meili Carpenter. Carpenter's first event was the one-meter board, where she came in second-place with a score of 280.70 points. On the final day, Carpenter competed in the three-meter diving event where she finished in fifth-place with 273.10 points. These scores helped Carpenter earn second team All-MAC honors and advance to the 2007 NCAA Zone Diving Championships.
"I am proud that she made second team All-MAC," Bashor said. "She understands that there is going to be difficult competition at the NCAA's and I definitely think she will hold her own ground against everybody else."
As a team, the Bulls got off to a rough start on the first day of the meet. Buffalo finished in eighth-place in both the 200-yard medley and the 800-yard freestyle relay. Even though they came in last in the 200-yard medley with a time of 1:46.39, the team of freshman Jessica Ballard, freshman Ashley Schaffert, freshman Samantha Eckert, and freshman Samantha Palma, was only .23 seconds shy of the school record in the event.
The third day of the tournament saw three Bulls earn season best times. Senior Kahla Walkinshaw came in fifth-place in the 100-yard butterfly as she touched the wall in 57.24 seconds. The first-place time was swum in 56.57.
In the 100-yard backstroke, sophomore Rachel Sorg swam the race in 58.93, good for 14th place, while freshman Caitlin Reilly was right behind her in 15th place with her season-best time of 59.35.
Another solid race for Buffalo was the 400-yard medley. The foursome of Sorg, Schaffert, Walkinshaw, and Palma finished the race in sixth-place with a season-best time of 3:54.92. First-place in this event was completed in 3:48.10.
On the final day of the Championships, Walkinshaw continued a strong showing at the meet. She completed the 200-yard butterfly in a season-best time of 2:05.82, which was good for fourth place. This time was three seconds off the first-place time of 2:03.02.
Freshman Kimberly Dale also was impressive in the 1,650-yard freestyle, where she swam the race in a season-best time of 17:59.98, which gave her a 20th-place finish.
In the 200-yard backstroke, the Bulls got good showings from Ballard and Reilly. Ballard pulled in with 11th-place in a time of 2:06.20. Reilly came in 13th-place with a time of 2:06.60.
"I have never been more excited to start a new year before," Bashor said. "There is a lot of talent on this team now and the incoming freshmen are really good swimmers. The coaching staff is familiar with what works well for this team and what doesn't."
The MAC Championships brought an end to the season for Buffalo. Carpenter is the lone Bull that will be competing on March 1-3 at Piscataway, N.J. in the NCAA Tournament.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
