Miami University (OH) flutter kicked, dove and flew past the competition during last weekend's Mid-American Conference Championships held in Oxford, Ohio.
MU led from day one and never looked back, finishing with a final standing of 664, which is more than double what UB managed to score.
The win was the RedHawks third consecutive MAC championship and their 14th in league history. Ohio finished second with 547 and Bowling Green took third, garnering 405 points.
As for UB, the three-day championship had its ups and downs. The Bulls finished seventh out of nine squads with 331 points, but had a few outstanding performances.
During Thursday's events, Jennefer Brankovsky finished second in the 200 individual medley, an event she won during last year's championships. Even though her time did not earn her a blue ribbon, she did meet NCAA B cut qualifying standards.
Brankovsky's performances throughout the three days of events also earned her a spot on the All-MAC First Team.
Other than Brankovsky's second place finish, UB was unable to make a strong mark among any of the other events on Thursday.
Ohio University placed first in three of the six events while Eastern Michigan's Anca Tilea won the one-meter diving event for the second year in a row. Tilea also went on to win Friday's three-meter diving event for the third year in a row.
In the 200-freestyle relay, Brankovsky, Abby Delia, Olga Wojcik and Frances Stephenson finished ninth, with a time that was just a quarter-second off the Bulls' school record.
While Buffalo could not garner enough speed to beat a school record on Thursday, a foursome of Bulls waited until Friday's final event to demolish a school record in the 800-freestyle record. Brankovsky, Stephenson, Jolie Pun and Kahla Walkinsaw raced to the walls in 7:33.00, blowing the school record set at last year's MAC Championship out of the water by six seconds.
Earlier that same night, Brankovsky also shattered a record of her own. She clocked in at 4:19.86 during the 400-individual medley, earning her first place in the event and breaking her personal record of 4:24.79, which she set two years ago at the 2002 MAC Championship.
On the last day of competition, UB was able to have yet another record-setting event. Even though Ohio won the 400-freestyle relay, Brankovsky, Delia, Walkinshaw and Stephenson combined to finish in 3:29.69, earning them fourth place and a post in the UB record books. They completed the race two seconds faster than the previous record setters did in the 2002 MAC Championships.
Next up for the Bulls are the NCAA Championships, which take place in mid-March.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
