Last week, Bulls swim and dive competed in the four-day Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship meet in Akron OH, where they secured nine top-five finishes and finished in fifth place overall.
Two swimmers – sophomore Bella Forsman and freshman Kamilla Nemes – were both named to the All-MAC Second Team after outstanding performances in the championships as well as the regular season. In addition to the athletes being honored, Russ Dekker, the head coach of the diving program was named MAC Diving Coach of the Year. This is the sixth straight year that Dekker has received this award, and it is a testament to the strong program he has built with the divers of UB.
The team of junior Vivian Roy, freshman Pinar Donmez, senior Nicole Aguilar, and junior Jillian Strine opened the meet for the Bulls with a fourth place finish in the 200-yard Medley Relay, with Strine touching the wall with a time of 1:37.61. The fourth place finish was followed later in the day with a silver medal in the 800-yard Relay. The relay team composed of junior Abbey Gardner, Forsman, senior Elise McCaul and freshman Alex Bulat finished the race with a time of 7:15.70 to secure the Bulls first podium finish of the meet.
Day two of the championship would see two podium finishes from UB divers in the 1-meter dive event, with junior Sophie Meuwissen in second and senior Mallory Hanna in third. Meuwissen scored a personal best of 282.60 and Hanna scored a season best of 279.80.
The third day of competition saw many top finishes in swim finals, beginning with Aguilar placing fourth in the 100-yard Butterfly with a time of 53.60. This would be a personal best time for the senior and ranks fourth in the program's all-time history. Later in the day, Nemes would earn a silver medal in the 400-yard Individual Medley with a personal best time of 4:18.48. Nemes now ranks fifth in program history in the event.
The Bulls pulled out all the stops on the final day of competition, where Donmez broke the school record in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:13.30 to earn fourth place in the event. All MAC Honoree Forsman would take home yet another top-five finish on the final day in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:00.10, to secure fourth. The meet concluded with the 3-meter diving finals, where freshman Adele Melamud placed fifth with a score of 264.85.
Overall, the Bulls finished the meet with 446 points. Some divers will continue into the post-season at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships, beginning on March 9th in Annapolis, MD.
Ciah Courtney is the senior sports editor and can be reached at ciah.courtney@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
