Bulls Post Trio of Wins After Second Day of Zippy Invitational

AKRON, OH – The University at Buffalo men's and women's swimming and diving teams continued their success on Saturday as the second day of action at the University of Akron's Zippy Invitational concluded at the Ocasek Natatorium.

The UB men increased their lead on second-place Xavier on Saturday. The Bulls are in first place with 1,171 points, 125,5 points ahead of the Musketeers. The UB women stand in fourth place with 741.5 points as Ohio University leads the meet with 1,093 points.

The Bulls opened Saturday's finals with a victory in the men's 200-yard medley relay. The UB foursome of Phil Aronica, Matt Hogan, Matt Schwippert, and Jared Heine broke the meet and pool record, finishing in a UB season-best time of 1:32.06. The time was four-tenths of a second better than UB's previous season best and bettered the meet and pool record set in 2009 by Xavier by eight-tenths of a second. UB's B squad of Cory Zorsch, Josh Meints, Mike Dugan and Tommy Steele was fourth in 1:34.42.

UB's men's 800-yard freestyle relay team picked up a second-place finish on Saturday. The foursome of Simon Proudfoot, Heine, Schwippert and Hogan turned in time of 6:54.22.

Aronica also won an individual title on Saturday as he led three men's backstrokers to the top four spots in the 100-yard race. Aronica won in a season-best 50.11, while Schwippert took third in 51.16 and Zorsch was fourth in 52.04.

The Bulls also had three of the top six positions in the men's one-meter diving finals. Colin Patrican won the title with a six-dive total of 302.35 points. Kenny Rhoades, who set the meet record of 305.55 in Saturday's preliminary round, was third with 276.65. Chris Iafrati took sixth with 236.30.

Zorsch, Schwippert and Dugan also reached the A finals of the 100-yard butterfly. Zorsch finished third in 50.28 while Schwippert took sixth in 51.21 and Dugan finished eighth in 51.51.

Meints scored a third-place finish in the men's 100-yard breaststroke in 58.38. Christian Muller was seventh in 59.56. Hogan finished fourth in the men's 200-yard freestyle in a season-best 1:43.36. Heine won the B final in 1:43.93 with Simon Proudfoot second in 1:44.86.

Freshman Andrew Tanzey and Eric Culver reached the A final of the men's 400-yard individual medley. Tanzey took fifth in 4:11.69 while Culver placed seventh in 4:12.85.

In the women's meet, Brynn Marecki picked up a second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Marecki narrowly missed out on the title as she finished in a season-best 1:04.94, three-hundredths of a second behind Clarion's Kelly Connolly (1:04.91). Kelsey Barbour was seventh for the Bulls in 1:07.25.

Alie Schirmers finished third in the 400-yard individual medley. Schirmers turned in a season best with her time of 4:28.53. Freshman Ava Giachino was fifth in the women's three-meter diving competition. She turned in a six-dive total of 239.00 points.

UB's women also had a pair of finalists in the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle championship finals. In the butterfly, Jessie Koltz finished sixth in 57.71 with Marissa Murphy taking seventh in 58.66. In the freestyle race, Jordan Deren was sixth in 1:55.03 while Caroline Simmons placed eighth in 1:57.01.

The Bulls also had a pair of relay teams finish in the top eight in the 200-yard medley relay. The A foursome of Karly Moore, Marecki, Koltz and Simmons was fourth in 1:46.97 while the B squad of Katelyn Pratt-Collins, Barbour, Murphy and Deren were eighth in 1:49.17.

Competition concludes on Sunday.

Team scores

Men: UB 1171, Xavier 1035.5, St. Bonaventure 938, Clarion 777, Niagara 536, Indiana (PA) 536, Shippensburg 459.5, Bloomsburg 459.5.

Women: Ohio 1093, Illinois State 812, Akron 770, UB 741.5, Clarion 657, Duquesne 651, Xavier 499.5, Indiana (PA) 360, Shippensburg 358, St. Bonaventure 221, Bloomsburg 165, Niagara 155.