Before a three meet winning streak, before the first win of the season, before two swimmers smashed a record together, there was the University at Buffalo.
While most Binghamton University students left the Southern Tier for winter break, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Florida for a training trip in early January. They returned to Binghamton on Jan. 11 at 2:30 a.m., then boarded a bus to Buffalo for a head-to-head match-up.
Both Bearcats teams lost that Sunday.
“We could not have been more tired for that,” said BU head coach Sean Clark. “We tried to rise up to the challenge … It didn’t help us that Buffalo swam great.”
Following their post-Florida flop, the men’s team (3-5) went on to win three straight meets, beating St. Bonaventure at the West Gym the following weekend, then traveling to Drexel and Colgate, and coming home with the “W’s.”
During the 2007-08 season, the men’s team went on a seven-meet win streak during the winter break. According to Clark, their January surge is due to the structure of the season.
“We get a lot of hard work done in the fall, start January down in Florida, then we do a lot of fine tuning leading up to the conference meet,” he said.
There was some light at the end of the tunnel for the women’s team. After a loss to St. Bonaventure, the BU women won their first meet of the season, beating Drexel. It was also the Bearcats first win against Drexel in five years. Clark turned the negative, Binghamton’s 1-8 record, into a positive.
“Our win against Drexel was exhilarating,” he said. “[The women’s team] really rallied around each other.”
According to Clark, the women’s team is where they need to be now, heading into the final regular season meet against Stony Brook, set for Saturday on Long Island.
“I expect my women to give it as much as humanly possible,” he said. “It should be a really close match-up between instate rivals.”
One reason for the teams’ current head-to-head records is the lack of home meets. This season, both teams only had three home meets. Last season, the men had eight home meets, while the women had nine.
“It is definitely a challenge to get off the bus and be at your best,” Clark said. “But at the same time, it is good preparation for our ultimate goal; the conference tournament in Boston.”
Two moments highlighted the break for Clark.
The first was the men’s 400 medley relay that broke a pool record at the last home meet. The second was when seniors Brenno Varanda and Andrew Palumbo both broke the pool record in 100-meter breast while swimming the 200 breast.
“[Varanda] breaking the 100 split was amazing,” Clark said. “He still had enough to reach down and win the race after just smashing that record.”
Varanda and Palumbo both went under the old standard, but only one counts.
“It is tough to only leave one on the board,” Clark said. “They’ve been training together for four years, going back and forth … you never know what’s going to happen. It’s been a blessing to have those two up on the blocks and to count on them.”
As for individual performances this past January, Pipe Dream Sports had some awards for the January stretch that were Coach Clark’s top picks.
Top swimmer:
Men: To Clark, it was a toss up between Jason Chen and Brenno Varanda, that ultimately went to Chen.
“[Chen’s] versatility really turned some meets in our favor.”
Chen was the America East swimmer of the week last week.
Women: Amanda Ciccone. “She broke a team record earlier in the year. She keeps piling up the victories.”
Top diver:
Men: Ryan Graham. “He continues to be outstanding. We take it for granted that he will be putting some great scores on the board.”
Women: Jenna Easton. “A freshman who has been battling some health concerns, but has been surprisingly consistent. She had her first collegiate win last Saturday.”
Most improved athlete:
Men: Kevin Kearney. “He came back after a summer of hard work and is starting to be a key figure for us.”
Women: Rita Brodfuehrer. “She had a key swim that won the meet for us at Drexel.”
Athlete to keep an eye on:
Men: Joe Perez-Rogers. “My freshman who already set a freshman record for us. He will open some eyes at the conference meet.”
Women: Tricia Alejandrio. “She puts up some top times on our team. Come conference [championship], she will score a lot of points for us.”
Team leader:
Men: Sean Lorenz. “He keeps us steady in and out of the pool.”
Women: Amanda Decker. “She is the glue that holds this whole thing together.”
Stand-out freshman:
Men: Nolan Slesnick. “He broke three freshman records so far. He will push himself pretty high up in the conference standings at the end of the year.”
Women: Elizabeth Hawkins. “She swam some surprisingly fast times last semester and we’ll see if we can get her back at the top of her game.”
Other Stand-outs:
Men: Philip Dzieniszewski. “He has been training like a wild man. My big junior sprinter.”
Women: Lyndsi Worthington. “She has exceeded her performances from last year as an impressive freshman.”