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Friday, March 29, 2024
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

Home opener retribution


Revenge is sweet.


After last year's loss to Duquesne, the Bulls men's and women's swimming and diving teams each opened their season with victories over the team that beat them just one year ago. Even with 17 new team members, Buffalo managed to sweep Duquesne this past Saturday at Alumni Arena Natatorium and opened the teams' seasons with wins.


Buffalo head coach Andy Bashor was ecstatic about his teams' efforts. He was pleased with the way the men (1-0) swam, but sees room for improvement and doesn't want his swimmers to become complacent with the win.


'[The men swimmers and divers] swam well,' Bashor said. 'I'm happy with where we are right now, but we need to be better tomorrow.'


Bashor was also happy with the effort put forth by the women's sqaud (1-0).


'I was very impressed by how they swam today,' Bashor said. '[The women swimmers and divers] really stepped it up.'


Although both Buffalo teams pulled off the win on Saturday, the men's vengeful victory was the highlight of the day.


Trailing for most of the meet, the Buffalo men's team managed to fight its way back to tie the score, 110-110, just before it headed into the last event – the 400-yard relay. Buffalo's young foursome of sophomore Simon Proudfoot, sophomore Jared Heine, freshman Matt Hogan and sophomore Chad Miller came up huge for the Bulls as they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.


The group won the race by just over six seconds, clocking in at 3:07.69, besting Duquesne's time of 3:13.25. With the win, the Bulls gained 11 first place points that ultimately propelled them to victory.


Buffalo's first place finishers for the men's team also included freshman Matt Schwippert, who took the 200-meter butterfly in 1:55.71, and senior Zach Ruske, who won the 200-yard backstroke in 1:51.63.


The Bulls' male divers had success in the pool versus Duquesne as well. Sophomore Colin Patrican took the one-meter event with a score of 269.62 and junior Kenny Rhoades won the three-meter board with a score of 308.02.


Although there was nothing sweeter than a revengeful win for the men, the women's performance was equally impressive.


Standing out for the Buffalo women was junior Jordan Deren, who won both distance freestyle races for the Bulls. Deren first took the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:28.05, then followed up that win by finishing the 500-yard freestyle in her fastest time, 5:05.04.


Deren led the Bulls, but six other women finished first for Buffalo in their individual events.


Freshman Caroline Simmons won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.93 and sophomore Alison Schirmers took the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09.52.


The upperclassmen also performed well.


Last year's All-MAC representative, senior Jessica Ballard, won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:55.60. Junior Jessie Koltz won the 100-yard freestyle in 51.37 and senior Caitlin Reilly won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:09.93. Finally, for the divers, senior Meili Carpenter won the one-meter diving competition with 296.85 points.


Buffalo women's swim team opens Mid-American conference play next weekend when it travels to Miami (Ohio) and Ohio on Oct. 30 and 31, respectively. The Buffalo men open their conference play on Nov. 6 when they host Eastern Michigan at Alumni Arena.



E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com



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