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Three weeks without competition ends on Saturday for the Bearcats men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams as they welcome fellow America East members Boston University and Vermont to the West Gym. Coming off a variety of solid individual performances at the WNY invitational, both the men and women feel comfortable with what they have to offer for the start the conference slate.

Since Vermont has no men’s team, the two BUs in the America East will face off in a duel. Boston, last season’s runner-up and this year’s preseason favorite, come to Vestal fresh off a win at the University of Maine. Unlike the Blackbears, the Bearcats’ head coach Sean Clark says his team plans to do its best to defend its home turf.

“We match up fairly well against Boston,” Clark said. “We have some strengths in every event and we need our solid core to be solid. Jason Chen, Joe Perez-Rogers, David Gleason, we need everyone to be there at full capacity.”

Last season at Boston, the men were defeated by a score of 132-111, but the men feel that they are more solid this time around.

“This year we have a core group of returners that are thoroughly prepared for the meet,” said senior captain Cole Courtemanche. “We also have a great group of new kids who are really excited and ready for Boston. This year brings much more excitement.”

Boston is led by junior Matt Rickett, the Most Outstanding Swimmer at the 2009 AE championships. Rickett holds conference records in both the 50-free and 100-fly.

For the women, they welcome the Vermont Catamounts along with the defending America East champs the Boston Terriers. The Bearcats are up for some tough competition in both Boston and UVM, who placed third in last seasons AE championships.

“We’re definitely looking to fight for some places and points to prove that we belong in with the next level,” said Clark.

The women bring experience in junior Amanda Ciccone along with a bright newcomer, freshman Tin Wai Siu, who placed her 200 fly time of 2:04.29 in the No. 2 slot on Binghamton’s all-time list in her first meet as a Bearcat.

“For the women’s side, both returning MVP, Amanda Ciccone, and our new impressive freshman, Tin Wai Siu, should be very competitive with the other teams’ best,” said Clark.

Last season the Bearcats swam away with 56 points against Boston, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Terriers collected 187 points in the meet. The Catamounts also defeated Binghamton by a score of 156.5-86.5.

This year, the Terriers are led by senior Emily Munday, who holds the 2008 and 2009 titles in the 200 fly. The Terriers also return three of four first place 200 free relay members in Kirsten Tullis, Maria McIntyre and Munday.

“[Boston] is very good,” said senior captain Rita Brodfuehrer, “But I think we’ll be better than we have ever been against them.”

Clark and the Bearcat women aren’t afraid of the Terriers.

“We know what we are up against though, we have expectations to fight claw and scratch and do whatever we can to get those points,” he said.

The Bearcats are set to take to the water Saturday at 1 p.m. in the West Gym.