UB men's and women's swimming weekly release
Bulls Take Second Place at MAC Championships
A furious comeback on the final night of action by the University at Buffalo fell just short as the Bulls finished second to Eastern Michigan at the Mid-American Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at Miami University's Corwin M. Nixon Aquatics Center. The Bulls scored a total of 674.5 points to Eastern Michigan's 693.5. UB won four relays and two individual events in the three-day meet.
Relayers Earn Three Wins on Final Night
In the final night of the meet, the Bulls won all three of the scheduled relays. Two of the relays, the 800-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relay were rescheduled from Friday's second night after violent weather in southwestern Ohio forced the postponement of action. The Bulls obliterated the school, pool and MAC marks in the 800-yard freestyle relay as the foursome of Matt Hogan, Matt Schwippert, Mike Dugan and Jared Heine finished in 6:30.94, earning an NCAA B cut and slicing more than six seconds off the previous mark set at last season's MAC meet. Hogan also broke his own mark for the 200-yard freestyle as he swam the leadoff leg of the relay in 1:35.60, lowering the old mark by a second and a half. UB then won the 200-yard medley relay setting a pool record of 1:28.34. The foursome of Schwippert, Josh Meints, Cory Zorsch and Heine earned an NCAA B cut with the clocking. The Bulls also won the meet's final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay in a UB, MAC and pool record time of 2:56.21 as Heine, Zorsch, Dugan and Hogan completed the foursome. UB also defended its title in the 400-yard medley relay on the opening night of the meet, breaking the school, MAC and pool records in 3:13.77. The foursome of Phil Aronica, Meints, Schwippert and Hogan bettered last year's record by more than a second. The Bulls also earned an NCAA B cut with the time.
Hogan, Meints Take Individual Honors
UB won individual titles in the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke events. On Saturday, UB gained first-, third- and fourth-place finishes in the 100-yard freestyle. Hogan won the event in a UB, MAC and pool record time of 43.45 with Dugan taking second in 43.84 and Heine finishing fourth in 44.39. Dugan set the UB record at 44.12 in Saturday's preliminary when he tied for the fastest time in the event with Missouri State's Vitalii Baryshok. Meints was awarded the breaststroke title when Friday's championship race was scrubbed with the preliminary heats becoming timed finals. Meints and Christian Muller were the fastest swimmers in the 100-yard breaststroke as both set UB school records during the heats. Muller, the 2011 runner-up in the event, won his heat in 55.69 lowering his school record time from last season's meet by half a second. Less than two minutes later, Meints broke Muller's mark with his 54.94 clocking, earning an NCAA B cut and the first-place finish in the heats.
Six Earn All-MAC Honors
The Bulls placed four swimmers, Meints, Hogan, Dugan and Schwippert on the All-MAC First Team. Meints and Hogan garnered first-team honors based on their individual wins as well as the relay victories. Dugan was part of two relay winners and had three second-place individual finishes while Schwippert was part of three relays and was second in both backstroke races. Heine and Zorsch earned second-team honors. Heine was part of three winning relays and finished third in the 50-yard freestyle while Zorsch was a member of two relays and placed third in the 100-yard butterfly.