Thursday morning, when the men's swimming and diving team embarked on its journey to Akron, Ohio, for the conference championships, there was little doubt that the meet to which it was headed would be a grueling three-day marathon.
"Doing well at the ECAC Championships took the anxiety out of going to the (Mid-American Conference) championships, and we were able to go in with a mental edge," said head coach Budd Termin.
Emerging from the season's end, the Bulls finished fifth out of five behind perennial powerhouse Eastern Michigan, and rivals Miami (Ohio), Ball State, and Ohio.
The team's opening day at the Ohio Aquatic Center was one with few bright spots for the Bulls. Eastern Michigan pulled ahead to an early 13-point lead over Miami. The Bulls finished the day with 81 points, far behind the 283 first-place points Eastern Michigan racked up.
The two relay events that the Bulls participated in on day one of the MAC championships only managed to finish in fifth place. Although they finished dead last, in the opening meet of the championship the foursome of freshman Kevin Schuster, senior Kevin Gatley, senior Jeff Hurst, and sophomore Leandro Souza had a finishing time of 1:26.43, a season best.
Eastern Michigan, which has won 25 of its last 29 meets, looked as though it would continue in their winning ways, but was denied early on the second day of competition when Miami tied down three individual events. By the end of day two, Miami led Michigan by just 11-and-a-half points.
Early on during Friday's competition, the Bulls tallied a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Souza, Schuster, Gatley, and senior Kurt Bessel made up the team. They hit the wall with a time of 1:38.37, which was an improvement from the group's effort at the ECAC Championships in Pittsburgh, Pa., last weekend.
"The three seniors we're losing were major point scorers at the championship since their freshman year," Termin said. "Although the number we're losing is small, they scored a lot of points and their presence will be missed.
Standings at the end of day two had Miami in first with a 580 points, Eastern Michigan in second with 569 points, followed by Ohio with 369 points, Ball State with 315, and Buffalo 178 points.
On the third and final day of competition, the Bulls were unable to create any momentum. Buffalo remained in fifth place with 259 points.
However, junior Luke Adams swam to his season-best time of 1:59.91 in the 200-yard backstroke. That quick pace, which was a mere two-tenths of a second off his lifetime best, propelled Adams into the final where he finished in fifth place.
"We went into the MAC championships knowing that we could go faster," Termin said.
In the 100-yard freestyle event, Kevin Gatley and Schuster were the two consolation finalists. Neither disappointed as Gatley swam a season-best 47.68 in the consolation race in which he finished sixth, and Schuster, who finished 15th overall, hit the wall at 47.32, his lifetime best.
In the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team shaved two whole seconds off their previous mark to finish at 3:08.10.
When all was said and done, Miami walked away with the championship in hand. The RedHawks' 888.5 points was just 7.5 points ahead of second-place finisher Eastern Michigan. That slim spread was the closest since 1998, when Eastern Michigan eked out a six-point victory over Toledo.
The Eastern Michigan loss snaps its consecutive team titles streak at six.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
