On Friday afternoon, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams both came away with victories in their first dual meet of the season against Duquesne University.
The men's swimming and diving team (1-0) defeated the visiting Dukes men's team (0-1) by a score of 129-107. The victory came with the Bulls winning seven of the 13 events that were held. Sophomore Connor Vander Zalm was a key component to the victory, winning both distance freestyle races for the second consecutive week.
"I thought we had excellent effort," said head coach Andy Bashor. "It was good to see them go out and be aggressive. They swam well."
Vander Zalm, last week's Mid-American Conference's Men's Swimmer of the Week, lowered his time from last week's Invitational to win the 1,000-yard freestyle race in 9:51.41, 10 seconds better than last Saturday's mark. Vander Zalm also won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:50.38.
The Bulls' divers also set new school records in winning both the one-meter and three-meter competitions. Freshman Jake Matter passed sophomore Michael McDowell's record by two points, with a score of 325.88 points for six dives. McDowell won the three-meter, extending his previous school record, with a point total of 356.92 for the six-dive competition. McDowell's previous school record was 338.80, from last season.
Vander Zalm lowered his time from last week's Western New York Invitational to take the 1,000-yard freestyle race in 9:51.41, 10 seconds better than his mark last Saturday. Vander Zalm also scored a win in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:50.38.
The best race of the day came from the 100-yard butterfly race, with junior Kevin Schuster squeezing out a victory in the tightest race of the dual-meet. Schuster held on in the final moments of the race to defeat Duquesne's Jim O'Hara by one-hundredth of a second. Schuster touched first in 52.73, opposed to O'Hara's 52.74.
Junior Zach Ruske, along with sophomores Andrew Tamchyna and Mike Hurst led the Bulls to a one-two-three victory in the 200-yard individual medley. Ruske won the event in 2:00.24, with Tamchyna following for a second place finish in 2:01.26. Hurst finished third in 2:04.81. Tamchyna also won the 100-yard backstroke in 53.82, the fastest time for the event this year.
"We had a lot of times that were much faster than last week," Bashor said. "This meet did not consist of a lot of racing like last week, so it led to faster times."
The women's swimming and diving team (1-0) also was victorious, defeating Duquesne's women's team (0-1) by a score of 128.5-84.5. The victory came with the Bulls winning 11 of the 13 events that were held. Sophomores Andrea Lehner and Jessica Ballard each won two individual events, with Ballard adding a relay victory as well.
Lehner, last week's MAC Women's Swimmer of the Week, swept the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races. In the 100-yard race, she won the event in 52.41, she took the 200-yard event in 1:52.66. Lehner shaved time off her finish from last week and was one second off of breaking the school record.
Ballard won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:11.76, as well as the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.25. She also swam the backstroke of UB's 200-yard medley relay with freshman Jessie Koltz and sophomores Sam Palma and Ashley Schaffert. The four won the event, with Ballard touching at 1:48.49.
Sophomore diver Meili Carpenter broke a school record for one-meter diving with her six-dive total of 311.25 points. Ashlee Burton previously held the record, which she set in 2005, with a total of 302.90.
Freshman Jordan Deren won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:08.07, as well as Palma grabbing a victory in the 100-yard freestyle in 57.74.
In the end, Coach Bashor feels that the teams have come a long way, and that this year holds a new breed of swimmers.
"If we would have swam against Duquesne last year, I wouldn't believe we would have done well," Bashor said. "It's good that after a year we can see the difference in our swimming."
Nonetheless, he still feels the teams have not reached their full potentials.
"I still believe there are better swims in them," Bashor said. "No one has swam their best yet. There is always room for improvement."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
