Winning five out of the 16 events in last week's meet at Cornell was not enough for the women's swimming and diving team. The Bulls fell to Cornell Saturday, 168-132, in their last regular season competition of the season.
The Bulls' best performer over the weekend was once again Jennefer Brankovsky. The senior led the squad, taking two events.
She scored a victory in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.57 in the opening event. Later in the meet she stayed in top form and won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:11.30. Still on the go, she finished the 100-yard butterfly with a second place finish in a new season-best time of 58.66.
Janet Reynolds, who left the field behind her by nearly two and a half seconds, also achieved an impressive victory. The team's captain completed the 200-yard butterfly in 2:08.03 and improved her season's best by almost two seconds.
"Those were all strong performances and we really needed those wins in order to keep the meet close." said Reynolds after the meet.
UB's other two victories came from their diving team.
Two juniors, Ashlee Burton and Miranda Matias, took over the one-meter and three-meter diving events, respectively. Burton added another victory on the one-meter board with 258.30 points Matias scored her first victory in her career as a Bull in the three-meter event with 278.60 points.
The Bulls' Kahla Walkinshaw and Julie Marcotte each secured two second-place finishes.
En route to her first second-place finish, Walkinshaw trailed Cornell's Emilie Rennie on two separate occasions and achieved a time of 10:51.51 in the 1,000-yard freestyle event. She went on to another second place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, as she finished with a time of 5:20.74.
Marcotte's closest opponent was Cornell's Alyson Melin, who defeated the Bulls in both breaststroke events. Marcotte, who was second to Melin in both events, completed the 100-yard in a time of 1:10.02 and finished the 200-yard in 2:28.39.
"We did our best with all the challenges which were placed upon us, and that has always been our team's strength. We are so united and are able to have fun no matter what the point outcome may be each meet," said Reynolds.
The squad is going into the next event, the Mid-American Conference Championship, with a positive and energetic attitude.
"While it is always nice to win meets along the way, the MAC Championships are the primary focus of the season. I just try to do my best at staying positive myself and everyone else seems to catch on. The goal never changes for us - just do the best we possibly can one race or dive at a time. We try to live in the moment because that is really all we have in this sport."
The MAC meet will take place in Athens, Ohio from Feb. 24 to Feb. 26.
After the meet, the Bulls' swimming and diving team will split up. The divers will compete in the NCAA Zone Diving competition, which begins March 10. Ashlee Burton, with her recent 300-plus point performance, has provisionally qualified for the NCAA event. The team will be together again the following week for the NCAA Championships, should they qualify.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
