The Binghamton men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams swept Niagara and Siena to open their 2019-20 season. In the team’s annual “Paint the Pool” meet to promote breast cancer awareness, the men’s team won every event in the meet against Niagara, repeating its success from last year’s meet and beating Niagara 242-52. The women’s team, meanwhile, captured every event against Niagara and Siena except the one-meter dive, 200 IM and 1,000 free, defeating Niagara 214-84 and Siena 210.5-86.5.

Junior Kaitlyn Smolar, who holds the 1,000 free team record with a time of 10:18.78, did not compete in the 1,000 free, and the event was captured by Siena freshman Reilly King with a time of 10:56.20. Smolar, however, won both of her individual events, the 200 free and 500 free, with times of 1:57.82 and 5:20.65, respectively. She was also responsible for spearheading the “Paint the Pool” meet, working with the Student Athlete Advisory Board and her teammates to decorate the pool in pink.

“[BU alumna] Brooke [Pettis] came up with this idea last year, and it kinda just carried on into this year because of how successful it was in the past,” Smolar said.

Pettis, who graduated last year and holds the team record in the 400 medley relay, was at the meet with fellow alumnus Alex Brion, who graduated last year and holds three records, to support the team in its season opener.

Smolar was also a part of the winning 400 free relay, which included senior Sydney Atendido, senior Kaitlyn Lange and senior Olivia Santos. Atendido and Santos won both of their individual races, Atendido in the 100 breast and 200 breast and Santos in the 50 free and 100 free.

Santos and Siena freshman Rory Kalac battled for first place in the 50 free, going stroke for stroke, eventually tying for first with a time of 25.34. While this race was close, Santos was the clear winner in the 100 free with a time of 54.29, almost a full second ahead of the second-place finisher, Niagara junior Yvonne Schere.

In the 100 breast, Atendido smoked the competition, coming in with a time of 1:06.71. The next finisher was sophomore Kelli O’Shea who came in almost four seconds after Atendido with a time of 1:10.21. The Bearcats swept this event, as freshman Alyssa Martin sealed third place with a time of 1:11.76.

Despite being in the second heat, Atendido was able to capture first place in the 200 breast with a time of 2:29.63. The Bearcats also swept this event, as O’Shea took second and senior Rebecca Nelson captured third place.

The teams also had a few freshmen winners, as Meadow Perez took first in the 200 fly with a time of 2:10.64, while Ryan Cohn captured the three-meter dive (265.34). Additionally, Justin Meyn and Matthew Palguta both collected two firsts, Meyn in the 50 free (21.74) and 100 free (47.80) and Palguta in the 500 free (4:49.87) and 1,000 free (9:58.51). Palguta finished over 10 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Zach Ciriaco (5:02.41).

“We had some good swims on both sides and our freshmen did very well,” said Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey. “It’s nice to have the freshmen come in and contribute right away.”

At the forefront of the men’s team was senior co-captain Ross Bernstein, who won all three of his individual races, the 200 fly, 100 fly and 200 IM with times of 1:56.28, 51:98 and 1:58.53, respectively. This is the second time in Bernstein’s career that he has won three individual events in a meet.

“Ross had a great day,” Cummiskey said. “We had a lot of guys who came in and swam great.”

Other individual winners included senior Dylan Van Manen in the 200 free (1:47.27), junior Erica Bachiller in the 100 back (58.86) and 200 back (2:10.94), junior Shane Morris in the 100 back (53.74), sophomore Ryan Board in the 100 breast (58.50) and 200 breast (2:11.90), sophomore Brian Harding in the 200 back (2:00.30), sophomore Belen Marriaga in the 100 fly (59.55), sophomore Amanda McGraw in the three-meter dive and sophomore Chris Egan in the one-meter dive.

While the Bearcats swept Niagara and Siena, they have a long season ahead of them, including a meet against Bucknell this weekend.

“Bucknell’s definitely going to be a competitive meet,” Bernstein said. “But we’ve done really well at Green [vs.] White, we carried it through to today and we just hope to keep improving.”

The Bearcats are set to take on Bucknell University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26 in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.