After five months of preparing, after traveling over 300 miles to Boston, after four days of fierce competition, the Binghamton University swimming and diving teams return to Vestal with a third-place finish for the men and a sixth-place finish for the women in the America East Championship.
UMBC’s men’s team was crowned AE Champion for the sixth-straight year, while the Boston University women’s squad won their first title since 1994. Only five of the nine AE schools have a men’s program; seven have women’s programs.
The Bearcats’ men’s team, which received 700 points, was led by freshman Nolan Slesnick and senior Andrew Palumbo, who each scored a pair of individual championships.
Slesnick’s first win came in the 400-meter individual medley when he set the conference record with 3:56.23. But that record was previously held by fellow Bearcat, senior Brenno Varanda, who broke the record in the preliminaries. Varanda touched the wall second in the finals, behind Slesnick, with a time of 3:56.99. Varanda has been the reigning champion in the event for the past three years.
Slesnick also won the 1,650-meter freestyle in 15:41.03. Slesnick earned Most Outstanding Rookie honors, while Varanda earned the Coaches’ award.
Palumbo became the AE Champion in both the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke with times of 56.39 and 2:03.55, respectively.
Varanda took home the championship in the 200 breast with a conference record time of 2:00.63. Varanda is now a four-time champion in the 200 breast, having won the event the past four years.
Other top swimmers included junior Philip Dzieniszewski, sophomore Jason Chen and freshman Joe Perez-Rogers.
On the boards, senior Ryan Graham took second in the 3-meter boards with 609.60, while freshman teammate Nick Turner placed fourth with 574.40. Turner also placed fourth in the 1-meter event with 260.55, while Graham placed fifth with 245.85.
In the relay events, the men’s 200-medley team placed second in 1:30.72. The team included Perez-Rogers, Palumbo, Dzieniszewski and senior Joseph Rogan.
The men’s 800 free team — Varanda, senior Brian Koralewski, senior Sean Lorenz and Chen — touched third in 6:43.64, breaking the school record by three seconds.
The men’s 400 medley relay team placed third in 3:21.91. The squad included Perez-Rogers, Palumbo, Dzieniszewski and Chen.
Binghamton’s women’s team scored 278 points, finishing ahead of seventh-place Maine.
On the women’s side, senior Kate Hassfurter brought home a third-place finish on the 3-meter boards. With 421.80, freshman Jenna Easton placed fifth on the 1-meter board and Hassfurter placed sixth with 406.75. Sophomore Liz Esposito placed eighth with 385.55.
Off the blocks, sophomore Amanda Ciccone placed fifth in the 100 butterfly in 56.31, sixth in the 50 free in 24.11 and seventh in the 100 free in 52.20.
Junior Allyce Brand placed ninth in the 50 free and the 100 breast with times of 24.37 and 1:06.43, respectively.
The women’s 200 medley relay squad placed fifth in 1:47.73, while the 800 free team placed sixth in 7:50.10.