Winter Storm Harper was not the only powerful force that traveled to the Northeast on Saturday as the Binghamton women’s swimming and diving team looked to maintain its perfect record in a tri-meet against Stony Brook and New Hampshire. Heading into the meet hosted by New Hampshire, the Bearcat women were 5-0 overall on the season, which marks the team’s best start since the 2002-03 season. The team’s perfect record fell, however, with a split result at the tri-meet as BU cruised by Stony Brook, 217-75, but suffered its first loss of the season with a 174-114 defeat against New Hampshire.
Standout performances came from sophomore Kaitlyn Smolar and freshman Amanda McGraw. Already a two-time America East Women’s Swimmer of the Week in the 2018-19 season, Smolar won the 1,000 free (10:41.88) and came in fourth in the 100 free (56.04). McGraw was victorious in the one-meter diving competition (238.20).
Senior Brooke Pettis and junior Sydney Atendido also turned in strong showings on Saturday. Pettis was runner-up in the 100 fly (58.01), while Atendido secured second place in the 100 breast (1:07.53). Atendido also finished third in the 100 free (55.85).
Pettis and Atendido were joined by sophomore Erica Bachiller and junior Olivia Santos in the 200 medley. The Bearcat quartet finished with a time of 1:51.81, good enough for a second-place finish behind the New Hampshire foursome of sophomore Melissa Dingle, senior Vivienne El-Sibay, sophomore Miranda Bacon and freshman Cassidy Wilson (1.48.93).
A dominant showing from freshman Anna Metzler was a big reason New Hampshire came out on top. Metzler, from Regensburg, Germany, took three events. She was victorious in the 200 free with a career-best time of 1:52.90. She also captured the 100 free (53.21) and the 500 free (4:59.60).
Dingle tallied two individual victories for New Hampshire as she recorded first-place times of 57.46 in the 100 back and 2:04.80 in the 200 back.
At last year’s America East Championships, a Smolar-led Bearcat team finished fourth, but first place was secured by New Hampshire. Binghamton head coach Brad Smith seemed impressed with his team’s performance against the reigning champions.
“New Hampshire is a first-class program, and coming up here to race them pushed us to a higher level,” Smith said.
New Hampshire ended the 2017-18 season with a 6-1 overall record, but is currently 4-2 overall and 3-0 against America East opponents this season.
A couple of weeks before the women’s tri-meet against Stony Brook and New Hampshire, Binghamton’s swimming and diving teams took a six-day training trip to Florida. This yearly trip took the Bearcat divers to Orlando while the swimmers trained in Fort Lauderdale.
While in Florida, the Bearcat swimmers participated in the Florida International University (FIU) Sprint Relays on Jan. 5, with the Binghamton women finishing in third place out of 12 teams and the men placing second out of 11 teams.
Five days later, the swimming and diving teams were in Poughkeepsie to take on Marist in a dual meet. Santos won the 50 free (25.37) and 100 free (54.74), leading the women to a 151-149 victory.
Smolar placed first in the 500 free (25.37) and Atendido finished first in the 100 breast (1:07.48).
After the meet, Smith described the team’s win as “gritty” and seemed pleased with the victory.
“It was a tough meet for us but we got the wins that we needed,” Smith said.
As their seasons near a close, all America East Conference teams will compete in this year’s championships starting Thursday, Feb. 14 through Sunday, Feb. 17 in Worcester, Massachusetts. But before then, the Binghamton men’s and women’s teams are set to meet St. Bonaventure University at 1 p.m. on Jan. 26 at the Patricia A. Saunders Aquatic Center in Vestal, New York.