Before a home crowd that included more than 50 former aquatic Bearcats, the Binghamton University swimming and diving teams watched as a senior performed her last collegiate dive, a freshman proved his role on the team and Cornell University’s distance swimmers cruised to victory in uncontested races, due to several sidelined Bearcats.
Despite falling to the visiting Big Red, Binghamton was excited to have so many alumni in the stands.
“It was better than awesome,” said BU head coach Sean Clark. “We are truly proud of where we are and we know it was our alumni base that brought us to where we are going.”
In the pool of the West Gym last Saturday, the men’s team fell behind the Big Red, 197-102, while the women lost, 185-114.
“We gave it a go each time we stepped up on the blocks,” Clark said. “I thought we competed pretty well. Cornell is obviously a pretty powerful opponent.”
On the blocks for the men, senior Andrew Palumbo captured a first place victory in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 59.19. Palumbo also captured a third-place finish in the 200- breaststroke with 2:13.92.
“[Palumbo] continues to impress,” Clark said. “He really developed into a swimmer we can count on. It is nice to see him succeed in that role.”
But the standout performance on the men’s side, according to Clark, was freshman Joe Perez-Rogers’ first-place finish in the 100-backstroke.
Perez-Rogers touched the wall in 52.30, beating two veteran Cornell swimmers, seniors Kevin Carey (52.63) and Jackson Wang (53.15).
“We are now figuring out what [Perez-Rogers’] role will be [on the team] and what he needs to do,” Clark said.
Senior Brenno Varanda had three solid performances, placing second in the 400- individual medley in 4:10.23, in the 200-breaststroke with 2:12.95 and the 200 IM, touching the wall in 1:58.75.
But not to forget the Bearcats on the board, Clark praised his senior diving leader, Ryan Graham, for his performance against the Big Red.
“To have him to count on every day he gets up there — he throws some great tricks and keeps control for some great scores,” Clark said.
With scores of 280.80 and 297.83, Graham took command of the boards, winning both the one-meter and three-meter events, respectively.
For the women, senior Kristen Maney said farewell to the West Gym after performing her final bow on the boards. Maney finished first on the three-meter boards with a score of 239.03.
“What a way to go out,” Clark said. “To have her finish her career on a high note with a victory — it is storybook stuff.”
Two weeks ago, Maney set the team record on the boards.
In the lanes, the women were led by the youth of the squad. Sophomores Amanda Ciccone and Danielle Gallo each captured victories in the breaststroke. Ciccone won the 200 in 2:30.73 and finished second in the 100 with 1:10.33, behind Gallo, who touched the wall in 1:09.37.
“To see two different women win in the breast events — it was encouraging,” Clark said. “I am really pleased with the way our breaststroke swimmers are going on both the men’s and women’s teams.”
In several 400- and 500-yard distance races, Cornell easily won, with little Binghamton competition. According to Clark, the Bearcats were short-handed for the day with several swimmers sidelined for “minor violations.”
“We had a few men and women out of the meet for failure to adhere to team rules,” Clark said.
But according to Clark, who would not disclose what rules were violated or who was involved, those individuals “are back in full swing now.”
Of the four relay events of the match, Binghamton came away with one victory: the women’s 400- freestyle.
Composed of Ciccone, freshman Elizabeth Hawkins, and juniors Taryn Ferrara and Allyce Brand, the squad finished the race in 3:41.55, almost three seconds ahead of Cornell’s first team.
“That [relay] was incredibly exciting,” Clark said. “I was so proud of the women right there. It was a nice award.”
Brand had won the 50-freestyle in 25.21 earlier in the meet.
With the end of the fall semester and winter break upon the Bearcats, the teams have a month of no meets until they travel to Florida for the Florida Invitational in January.
But the month of no meets means a new level of training is upon the Bearcats, according to Clark.
“We are going to crank up our training another notch and make sure that when February rolls around, we are going to be as best prepared as possible.”