On Saturday afternoon, the women's and men's swimming teams started what they hope will be a fruitful season. Both teams picked up several individual victories at the Western New York Invitational.
The WNY Invitational, a non-team scoring event, included local teams such as Canisius, Niagara, the Rochester Institute of Technology, St. Bonaventure, and Binghamton. Overall, the Bulls looked the best out of the group, with the women taking 10 of the 15 events available.
"I'd say we did well," said head coach Andy Bashor. "There are still some areas that we need to work on, but I was really pleased."
The victories by the women were highlighted by a relay victory as well as five individual wins by sophomore Andrea Lehner. Lehner, who swam for Maryland last season, impressed many in her first individual race, winning the 500-yard freestyle event in 4:58.93. The time was just one second off of the school record, which was set by Jennefer Bankovsky in 2004.
Lehner also took first place in the 200-yard individual freestyle, with a time of 1:56:24. She also won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:15.36, as well as the 200-yard individual medley in 2:08.25. Like the 500-yard freestyle, Lehner was also one second off of the school record in her winning time of 2:05.43 at the 200-yard backstroke event.
"Andrea's swims were very good swims, but there are faster swims in her," Bashor said. "I was pleased to see those times so early in the season."
Lehner also opened the meet by swimming the first leg of the winning 200-yard medley relay team. The group of Lehner, sophomore Ashley Schaffert, freshman Jessie Koltz and sophomore Samantha Palma won the event in 1:49.43, holding off St. Bonaventure's best squad by three-tenths of a second.
Koltz was also victorious in the 50-yard freestyle, winning the event with a time of 25.07, while Sophomore Sam Eckert won the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 58.52. Sophomore Jessica Ballard won the 400-yard individual medley, which was the closest event of the day. Ballard touched the wall at 4:39.99, beating St. Bonaventure's Kara Small by four-hundreths of a second.
The Bulls completed the meet with yet another victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay with the squad of senior Meghan Lafferty, Koltz, Palma, and senior Andrea Scharf. The wall was touched in 1:41.06, a second ahead of another Buffalo group.
The men's team was led by sophomore Connor Vander Zalm in the distance freestyle races. Vander Zalm won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:48.85, as well as the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:01.30. Vander Zalm also placed second in the 400-yard individual medley in 4:23.24.
"I was talking to the other coaches and it seems that this meet served a very good purpose in getting some swimming in early in the season to see where we are at," Bashor said. "Our goal is to train with the end of the season in mind."
The other men events were split between Niagara, St. Bonaventure, and Binghamton. Pat Garvy of Niagara won the 50-yard freestyle, as well as the 100-yard freestyle. The Bonnies "A" team of James Wood, Roman Margulis, Pat Henahan, and Scott Jordan took first place in the 200-yard medley, with Margulis also winning the 200-yard butterfly. Wood also won another event, as he placed first in the 200-yard backstroke. Binghamton swimmer Brenno Varanda won two events, while Andrew Palumbo won an event as well. Jason Chen and Kevin Kearney earned their first collegiate victories as well at the event.
On Friday, both the men's and women's swimming teams will host Duquesne in their first dual meet of the season. The event will be located at the Alumni Arena Natatorium, starting at 4 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
