As the schedule moved from the last two non-scoring meets into the opening of the Mid-American Conference slate, the women's swim team finally got the opportunity to prove its potential in the first scored meet of the season.
On Saturday afternoon, the Bulls (1-0, 1-0 MAC) welcomed Akron (1-2, 0-2 MAC) to Alumni Arena for the opening of conference play. Buffalo walked away with a 165-133 triumph.
"I really liked the way we performed today; Akron is a really good team," said head coach Andy Bashor. "They stepped up to the challenge. We've had a good couple of weeks of practice and it showed."
Senior Brittney Kuras continued to perform consistently, leading the Bulls with a pair of wins in freestyle races. She set a season best with a time of 1:49.31 in the 200-yard freestyle, which was three seconds faster than her result at the WNY Invite on Oct. 13.
But that wasn't all. She took first for the 100-yard freestyle with a 50.84. In addition to that, she won in the 200-yard individual medley.
The athlete who set the state record in the 500-yard freestyle, sophomore Jessica Powers, placed first in the event in 5:00.92 - almost a three-second improvement from her time in the WNY Invite. She also won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:18.18.
Sophomore Spencer Rodriguez finished in front in the breaststroke races - with a time of 1:06.11, she finished the 100-yard race faster than her previous best. She also finished two seconds ahead of her last best time in the 200-yard race with a time of 2:23.68.
Senior Mallory Morrell scored a season-best time, 23.37, in the 50-yard freestyle.
Though there have only been three meets in the season thus far, two of which were non-scored, the Bulls have exhibited an improvement from previous years with striking times.
"During practice, it's been a lot harder," said junior Taylor Lansing. "Our bodies been hurting. [Bashor] has been really hard on us. He keeps telling us: 'Sorry, we're not letting up. It'll pay off in the end, but it'll be really difficult.'"
The girls will travel with the men's team to Colgate and Army next week for non-league matches. The Bulls will take on the Raiders on Nov. 9 and the Black Knights on Nov. 10.
"We're all getting stronger," Lansing said. "We can tell we're getting stronger."
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Photo: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics
