After three weeks off from competition to focus and prepare, the Binghamton University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams collided with every conference foe to battle for the America East championship, hosted by Boston University. The UMBC men won their seventh consecutive and 13th overall AE championship with a score of 926.5 points, followed by Boston with 848.5 points. Binghamton placed third with a total of 586 points. On the women’s side, Boston took the crown finishing with 765 points, while the Bearcats took sixth place in the meet with a score of 324.5, finishing ahead of Maine (209).
It’s been three straight years that the Bearcat men have watched UMBC and Boston swim to a one-two finish at the championships. So BU was prepared for another strong year by the AE powerhouses.
“Overall, we expected to finish third,” said sophomore Nolan Slesnick. “We predicted ourselves to be a sizeable difference away from second-seeded Boston and fourth-seeded Stony Brook. Because we knew our team place this year was most likely set, we focused on improving our personal times and getting a great championship experience.”
Highlighting Day 1 of competition for the men was Anthony Foiles. The freshman diver from Pomona, N.Y. placed second in the 1-meter with a score of 493.40. Senior Bob Nolte (459.90) and freshman Justin Mattison (413.15) also performed on the 1-meter, placing fifth and eighth, respectively.
The men touched third in two relay events on Day 1, as well. A 200-yard medley relay team of Joe Perez-Rogers, Erik Wagner, Josh Saccurato and Andrew Ellman clocked in at 1:34.13. Slesnick, David Gleason, Jason Chen and Dan Feeley competed in the 800-yard freestyle relay team that touched in a time of 6:43.07.
Gleason picked up a victory for the Bearcats on Day 2 when he placed first in the 500 free (4:31.14). Gleason finished ahead of teammate Slesnick, who finished third (4:31.59), and Feeley, who finished eighth (4:40.83)
After two days and 14 events at Boston’s Competition Pool, the men sat comfortably in third, trailing first place UMBC by only 40 points.
“I think Day 2 of the meet was the best for us,” Slesnick said. “Across the board, we showed our talent and depth. We closed the day just 20 points behind Boston University, who was favored to win the meet.”
Slesnick continued his strong performance right into Day 3, where he took third in the 400-yard individual medley (3:58.54). Gleason finished fourth in the 200 free (1:39.86) ahead of Chen, who placed sixth with a time if 1:41.23.
As the events finished up on Day 3, second-place Boston and first-place UMBC swam out of striking distance as BU sat in third with 439 points, well ahead of fourth-place Stony Brook (310).
Slesnick turned in a favorable finish for his team when he took second in the 1,650-yard free (15:53:71) on the final day of competition. Slesnick finished a mere 15 seconds behind his brother, and Boston University’s senior standout, Tyson.
“What I’m most excited about from the meet is where this puts us in our outlook going into next year,” Slesnick said of his team’s overall performance. “We should have an extremely competitive team. The freshmen matured and improved dramatically, and many returners stepped up in a big way to become big contributors.”
The America East honored Slesnick and Gleason for their efforts this season by naming them to the 2009-10 All-Conference team. With that, the Bearcat men wrap up a long season at 5-5, and with a youthful squad have high hopes for the 2010-11 season.
The women, after a strong regular season, headed into the championship meet with a convincing 6-4 record. Attempting to swim off a sixth-seed prediction, the Bearcats couldn’t fend off the strong strokes of the America East and finished with 324.5 points, beating the University of Maine and falling just short of fifth-place Stony Brook (331.5).
“My expectations on how the girls were going to do were exceeded this past week,” said senior captain Taryn Ferrara. “Just about all the girls got at least one best time in their events and the divers did their share of making an impact.”
On Day 1, the 200-medley relay team of junior Brittany Detlef, senior Allyce Brand, freshman Tin Wai Siu and junior Amanda Ciccone placed fifth with a time of 1:47.04. With 52 points at the end of that day, they sat in sixth place.
Ciccone, who has been a reliable leader for BU all season, swam 2:06.76 in the 200 IM, which was good for fifth place on Day 2. On the boards, Binghamton was very successful on the 3-meter, with sophomores Morgan Neal and Jenna Easton placing fourth and fifth, respectively. Junior diver Liz Esposito came in eighth with 413.75 points.
Day 3 showed improvement as the team started off Saturday in fifth place and was not far behind Vermont, who sat in fourth. Ciccone placed sixth in the 100 fly (56.77) ahead of fellow junior Detlef, whose touch on the wall was good for 14th (58.49). Siu competed in the 400-IM, where she finished ninth (4:29:59). Freshman Olivia Baczek took 10th in the 100 back with a time of 59.42.
“We competed really well on Saturday as a team,” said Brand, a team captain. “We had a lot of swimmers make it back to finals and consolation finals. We also had a lot of people make it back for Sunday.”
The Bearcats dove into the final day of competition in sixth place, but only 10 points behind fifth-place Stony Brook. A pair of freshmen turned in seventh-place performances with Siu clocking a time of 2:06.05 in the 200-fly and Melissa Lindahl racing in the 200-back (2:07:48). Ciccone touched the wall in 52.32 seconds, which was good for ninth place in the 100-free.
Despite a reported stomach virus, Easton showed character and dove through her illness, finishing fourth on the 1-meter (417.70). Teammate Neal remained steady on the boards, placing sixth (409.80).
Unable to catch the Seawolves on the final day of the meet, the Bearcats wrapped up the championship and are looking forward to the future. Finishing the season with a winning record, BU not only matched and exceeded last year’s record, but surpassed head coach Sean Clark’s overall record since arriving at BU in 2006.
The Bearcats’ men’s and women’s teams will train during both the spring and summer seasons until the 2010-11 season is ready for take-off.