Women's Swim Team Loses MAC Home Opener

The University at Buffalo women's swimming and diving team fell to Marshall in a close home meet on Friday afternoon by a score of 155.5-144.5.

Three UB swimmers recorded career bests, but the team was unable to overcome Marshall's depth.

"We were going up against a much improved Marshall team," said UB head coach Dorsi Raynolds. "I expected the meet to come down to the last relay and it did. Marshall's depth this week showed up big, their second, third and fourth kids showed up and that's really what made the difference."

The Bulls started off strong, edging out the Thundering Herd for first place in the 400-yard medley relay. The team of Jennefer Brankovsky, Julie Marcotte, Jennifer Raimondi and Kahla Walkinshaw stole the victory in a time of 4:00.72.

Marshall jumped out to a commanding lead in the 1000-yard freestyle with Erika Nilsson beating the rest of the pack by almost 20 seconds. UB picked up the momentum when Brankovsky recorded the victory in the 200-yard freestyle.

Freshman Cassie Oliveri turned in a career best time of 1:02.08 to take the 100-yard backstroke.

Marshall's Nilsson overcame an early UB lead to win the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:06.18. UB secured both second and third place with Walkinshaw coming in second and Janet Reynolds finishing third.

The Thundering Herd tied the meet with a victory in the 50-yard freestyle. The meet was still tied going into the 100-yard freestyle, but unfortunately for the Bulls, MU's Lambert and Edmonson captured first place and second place, respectively, for the Herd.

In turn, UB's Marcotte and Gervais turned in a one-two combo of their own in the next event, placing first and second in the 200-yard breaststroke.

The Thundering Herd fought back and regained the lead with a victory in the 500-yard freestyle. Nilsson took first place, while UB's Brankovsky settled for second place for the Bulls.

Marshall extended its lead with a first and third place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Buffalo's Walkinshaw secured second place in the event.

The UB diving team had a solid day, sweeping the diving events. Kimberly LaHaye edged out teammate Ashlee Burton for the victory in the three-meter diving event. The one-meter diving event went to Burton with a score of 254.55 points.

The meet came down to the last race. Marshall's Milla Kuurto barely beat UB's Brankovsky in the 200-yard IM to claim first place in the race and ultimately the victory for the Thundering Herd over the Bulls.

Marshall won the concluding race for good measure, taking the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:38.84.

The other two UB swimmers to record career bests were freshmen Bridget Quinn and sophomore Stefanie Nochisaki. Quinn set a career best of 2:02.73 in the 200-yard freestyle while Nochisaki set a new career best in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:29.70.

Going into the race, Nochisaki said she felt better than usual.

"My 100 breaststroke felt really good and usually the 200 is really hard for me, so after the 100 felt well, I was just really excited to swim."

Coach Raynolds stressed the importance of using these MAC meets as preparation for the MAC tournament in the spring.

"In general we had some great season times; the nature of the sport is just we tire them out, then rest them for the end of the year. It's about the MAC meet for us, but this was a great practice meet for the championship meet in February," Raynolds said.