In her final collegiate swim - on the biggest stage - senior Mallory Morrell made sure to etch her name into Buffalo swimming history.
Morrell became the first swimmer to qualify for the evening session at the NCAA Division I women's championship meet and the first swimmer or diver to earn All-American honors since diver Meli Carpenter in 2010.
"To be the first [All-American swimmer] is something very special and a great achievement that nobody can take away from her," said head coach Andy Bashor. "People will follow in her footsteps after that. It is just a great honor that comes so far and few between to even become an All-American, so for her to do that, I'm just so happy for her."
Morrell and junior Britney Kuras represented Buffalo at this season's women's swimming and diving championships at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis over the weekend. It was Kuras' second straight appearance in the meet.
In the final weekend of her Bulls career, Morrell became the first Buffalo women's swimmer to reach the evening session at the championships, after she qualified 16th overall with a 22.39 time in the 50-yard freestyle.
She finished the final race in 22.46 seconds, good for fifth place.
"That's how you want to finish your swimming career," Bashor said. "It shows the work and dedication she has put to the sport to get her better and something that will be a great memory for her for the rest of her life."
Kuras finished just .26 seconds shy of an All-American performance of her own.
In Saturday's 100-yard freestyle preliminaries, Kuras broke her own school record en route to a 48.79-second performance, as she finished 19th overall in a field of 62. The top 16 earned All-American honors.
"The first two events, she swam pretty good races, and she really stepped up [Saturday] and finished off the season with a school record," Bashor said.
Buffalo hopes to build on this weekend to showcase its talent not only to the rest of its conference, but nationwide.
"When you have someone like Mallory become an All-American, now we will focus ourselves to train just like her and think: 'If she can do it, then I'm going to go in there, and I'm going to try to do it,'" Bashor said. "It definitely elevates the program, not only [for] the team, but in recruiting. It really helps out just to have Mallory and Brittany, two girls here at the best meet in the country."
Although Morrell graduates, Kuras - the two-time defending Mid-American Conference outstanding swimmer of the year - has another year of eligibility left.
"Having a second year and being used to it a little more and being able to bounce back and have the performance she did, this should give her the competitive drive to come back next year and still have something to prove," Bashor said.
Kuras and the Bulls look to build on this momentum for future success.
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