The Binghamton men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened the new year with wins for both squads. In their first meet of the 2025 campaign and penultimate competition of the regular season, the women picked up a 167-129 victory, and the men secured an 189-110 win over Wagner College on Saturday afternoon. Two Bearcat men won three individual events, while three Bearcat women each placed first in a pair of individual events.
“Across the board, no one was probably as fast as the times that they usually go,” said Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey. “That goes back to the training volume we just had, and the travel and a lot of those different circumstances that didn’t set us up to necessarily to be at our best, but we understood that going in.”
Senior Elijah Lanfear continued his strong 2024-25 campaign with wins in the 100 fly, 50 free and 100 free, recording times of 50.41, 21.41 and 47.58 respectively while also swimming on the 200 medley relay team alongside junior Max Kaback, freshman Tyler Schultz and junior Liam Preston which finished in first place with a time of 1:34.38. Another Bearcat on the 200 medley relay team, freshman Evan Peters, was a first-time triple-event winner. Peters won the 200 free, 200 back and 200 IM with times of 1:43.17, 1:54.09 and 1:56.34.
“[Lanfear] was strong,” Cummiskey said. “[He] did a great job of just racing and getting it done. [Peters], we had him in a couple of different events, his versatility and his ability to race and get his hand on the wall first was evident. He had a great day.”
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, junior Maria Pignatelli and sophomore Fayanne Smith-Salzberg led the way as the Bearcats women’s top performers. Pignatelli won the 50 free with a time of 24.77 and the 100 free with a time of 53.07. Smith-Salzberg took honors in the 200 breast and 200 IM with finishes of 2:25.43 and 2:12.64. For individual event victories, freshman Natalie Kassirer claimed the 1000 free victory with a time of 10:57.61, while sophomore Haley Nowak triumphed in the 100 fly, finishing in 59.41.
“On the woman’s side, the meet was close and up to the first break we were kind of getting competed out and swam out,” Cummiskey said. “[Pignatelli] putting her head down and winning the 50 free gave us a little bit of momentum into that first break that we needed. And then she came out and won the 100 free in quite a fast time for her.”
Two Bearcats also found success on the diving side as junior Elizabeth Tirado claimed victories in both the one-meter, scoring 245.45, and three-meter, scoring 224.10. Rounding it off, freshman Jacob Koclanis won the one-meter dive with a score of 249.30.
“[Tirado] has been our strongest diver consistently all year,” Cummiskey said. “A huge part of winning both of those meets was the divers sweeping all four events. Those are big points for us, something we hoped would be the case.”
Binghamton will now return home for its final regular season meet, facing Marist during Senior Day on Saturday, Jan. 25. First race is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Patricia A. Saunders Aquatic Center in Vestal, New York.