Heading into the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and Sun Belt Championships, the men's swimming and diving team were unaware of how well they would perform. That was before freshman Jake Sangren led the team to an unexpected finish in Nashville, Tenn.
Sangren's victory in the 100-yard backstroke highlighted the Bulls' second-place MAC finish during the weekend. Buffalo finished with 639.5 points, placing them behind Eastern Michigan's 1046.5 points.
"It's a great accomplishment for [Sangren], especially being a freshman," head coach Andy Bashor said. "He has three more years to keep getting better. It's a great win for him."
Bashor recognized the strong performance of senior swimmer Zack Ruske, who broke two individual records over the course of the championship. Ruske swam a 3:57:42 in the 400-yard individual medley in the preliminary event. He went on to take third in the MAC finals.
Junior diver Michael McDowell finished first in the MAC with a point total 321.30.
On day one, the Bulls swam the 200-medley relay with a school-record time of 1:31:38. The team made up of Sangren, juniors Jordan Matthews and Scott Woster and freshman swimmer Chad Miller broke the previous mark which was set back in 1992.
Woster placed second in the MAC during the 100-yard butterfly later in the week. Schuster broke the school record in the preliminary round of the butterfly. He finished third in the MAC during the final with a personal best time of 57:71, placing him fifth in the MAC.
The 800-yard freestyle relay team also broke a school record with a time of 6:41:60. The team of Ruske, junior Connor Vander Zalm, and freshmen Jared Heine and Simon Proudfoot beat a school record that was set in 1998.
Despite the Bulls' success, Eastern Michigan stole the show. They took home their 28th MAC Championship, which was their third-straight.
While the last day of the meet was difficult, Bashor felt his team accomplished what they set out to do.
"We did well," he said. "We had a great final morning that put us into great position. One of the main goals was to come in here and get second in the MAC and we did that. The morning, like I said, really put us in position to do that."
Bashor could not have been more pleased with the overall effort and performance of his team.
"We swam great and we dove great," he said. "It was fun to see these guys step up in big moments and do something special."
Bashor has seen vast improvement in only his second season coaching the men's team.
"I can't explain how much better we are then we were last year at this time," Bashor said. "We are just so much more competitive now and the guys have such a willingness to put in the hard work to get the greater outcome. These guys did a great job doing that."
