Under the roof of the West Gym, the Minutemen and women took command of Bearcats territory.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams of Binghamton University were unable to take down the University of Massachusetts last Saturday during their first home meet.
While the Minutemen sank the BU men, 162-138, the Minutewomen drowned their rivals, 195-105.
The Bearcats’ men’s team got off to a good start with a pool-setting record in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:34.31. The first-place relay team included seniors Andrew Palumbo and Joe Rogan, freshman Joe Perez-Rogers and junior Philip Dzieniszewski.
Another Binghamton relay team placed third in that event with a time of 1:37.02.
Binghamton’s Jason Chen edged out Joey Sbordon of UMass in the 200-yard freestyle by .73 seconds with a time of 1:45.10.
But it was Palumbo who blew his competition out of the water in the 100-yard breaststroke. With a time of 58.86 seconds, Palumbo coasted to a 2.66-second lead victory over UMass’s Brian Schmidt, who finished third. Palumbo’s teammate, senior Brenno Varanda, finished second with a time of 59.52.
Palumbo also won the 200-yard breaststroke, again beating out Varanda. Once again, the duo finished No. 1 and 2, with times of 2:09.95 and 2:10.82, respectively.
But Varanda had his chance to claim the top spot in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:57.62.
Over on the diving boards, senior Ryan Graham placed second in the one-meter and three-meter events with scores of 273.82 and 295.43.
On the women’s side, Binghamton’s top swimmer was sophomore Danielle Gallo, who sailed to two first-place finishes, one in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.62) and the other in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:30.92).
The Bearcats also edged out Minutewomen in the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke. Binghamton sophomore Amanda Ciccone won the 200 free in 1:58.04, while teammate Lyndsi Worthington won the 200 back (2:11.07). Ciccone also placed third in the 100 free (54.98), and Worthington captured second in the 100 back with a time of 1:00.94.
The Bearcats had some help from freshman Tricia Alejandro, who placed second in the 200-yard back and the 200-yard individual medley with times of 2:11.76 and 2:14.81, respectively.
Another top finisher for the Bearcats was sophomore Brittany Detlef, who took to the pool in the butterfly races. Detlef placed second in the 200-yard fly (2:15.36) and third in the 100-yard fly (1:01.52).
In the short races, Allyce Brand placed second in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.26. Brand was overcome by UMass’s Kathryne Chalikis by 0.23 seconds.
The Minutewomen swept over on the boards in both the one-meter and three-meter events.
Binghamton’s top diver, senior Kristin Maney, finished fourth in both events with scores of 225.97 in the three-meter and 198.14 in the one-meter. Maney was followed by fellow senior Kate Hassfurter, who finished fifth in both the three-meter (210.45) and the one-meter (196.33).
Making this matchup between Binghamton and UMass even more interesting was the fact that Binghamton head coach Sean Clark graduated from UMass in 1993 after swimming for the Minutemen. Bearcats diving coach Reuben Rappe graduated from UMass in 2008.
The Bearcats are back in the pool at the Bucknell Invitational on Nov. 22 and 23.