Five senior swimmers will enter the waters of the Alumni Arena Natatorium for their final home meet on Saturday as the women's swimming and diving team hosts Cornell University.
Although the Bulls head into their last match with a record of 3-8 overall and a disappointing 0-7 record in Mid-American Conference action, interim head coach Scott Vanderzell believes his team has plenty of talent, just not enough depth.
"Our main weakness is our depth," Vanderzell said. "We don't have a high number of swimmers like other teams in order to score well, but we hope to increase that through recruiting."
The Bulls will dive in against Cornell for a final meet before the MAC Championships. The Big Red swimmers have also been plagued with a losing record this season, with their most recent defeat coming to both Brown and Columbia in a tri-meet, dropping their record to 2-9 overall.
Saturday is also Senior Day, a last showing for five graduating Bulls. Meg Brosch, Jackie English, Jennifer Raimondi, Rachel Rubin and Olga Wojcik will each be honored before the start of the meet.
Cornell is a well-matched competitor for the Bulls. Both teams tout strong swimmers in the mid-distance stroke events and relay legs, and each has a competitive distance swimmer.
Buffalo junior Kahla Walkinshaw will be trying to continue the success she has seen all season in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly. She has also performed well in earlier meets in the 1,000-yard freestyle event.
Freshman Rachel Sorg is expected to show expertise in the backstroke events for Buffalo. Sorg was the 2005 SummaCare Invitational 100-yard backstroke champion.
Senior Jackie English is the only true sprint swimmer in the group, which hurts the Bulls in scoring. Fellow senior Eugenie Viale will have to step up in the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle events to balance things out for the Bulls.
"Our mid-distance swimmers make up the majority of the relay legs, so we depend on them to carry out much of the scoring," Vanderzall said.
Cornell brings in tough competition for many of the Bulls swimmers. The Big Red's Jess Brookman and Ashley Johnson will contend with Walkinshaw in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly events and Cornell senior Elissa Kline brings a winning chance to a variety of events.
Cornell sophomore Leah Tourtellote promises to be a force against Sorg in the 100-yard backstroke. Emilie Rennie will most likely compete in the 1,000-yard freestyle for the Big Red.
Raimondi boasts personal bests of 53.47 and 1:57.19 in the 100- and 200-yard freestyles, respectively. She believes that the swimming program at Buffalo has advanced drastically since her freshman year.
"I feel that the program has progressed in a positive way," Raimondi said.
Rubin reinforces Raimondi's claim about positive changes within the program, crediting the team's new coach as the primary reason.
"I think he's done a fantastic job," Rubin said. "The coach plays a critical role in how we perform. Unfortunately, we only got him this year, but I think so far this season has shown promise. We should all have an outstanding meet."
The remaining three seniors, Brosch, English, and Wojcik, will give their last regular season efforts in each of their respective events. Brosch will swim in the mid-distance freestyle events, English in the sprint events, and Wojcik in the backstroke and distance freestyle, as well as the relay.
The yearly senior tradition for the team includes highlighting accomplishments throughout their four years of competition.
"Last year as juniors, we put on little presentations for the seniors," Rubin said with a laugh. "We're hoping this year the underclassmen will do the same for us."
The Bulls will begin the competition at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
