The Binghamton swimming and diving teams hosted in-state rivals Cornell for a dual meet on Friday. Despite the competition being close at the start, the Big Red pulled away toward the middle of the meet, defeating the Bearcats 128-115 on the men’s side and 146-97 on the women’s.

“I thought both the men and the women competed about as well as we could’ve,” said Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey. “Our goal tonight was to compete and have our best meet of the year and gain some confidence and learn as we head into our invite … All in all, I don’t know that we could’ve had a better night collectively.”

BU got out to a quick lead on the women’s side, winning the very first race of the meet, the 400 medley relay. The relay team that took the gold was composed of juniors Courtney Moane, Kandice Chandra, Maddie Hoover and freshman Maria Pignatelli. The foursome earned 11 early points for the Bearcats with a final time of 3:56.47.

Moane also took first place in the 100 breast with a time of 1:05.59. Sophomore Lauren Kuzma finished shortly after, earning second place in 1:05.84 to earn Binghamton 13 points from one race. Freshman Celia Webster earned gold in the 400 individual IM event with a final time of 4:35.33. Kuzma found the runner-up spot again in this race, coming in shortly after at 4:37.99. These victories were not enough, however, as BU was unable to catch up to Cornell, falling 146-97.

“Our teams have been working real hard,” Cummiskey said. “It [has] certainly been a grind, and to see it pay off and to see some buy-in and some confidence coming from [it] is great.”

The men’s side got out to a slower start than the women, as they did not get a win until the sixth event, the 200 free. Junior Liam Murphy won the event with a final time of 1:40.78 to get the Bearcats back on track. Sophomore Eli Lanfear competed in the 50 free and 100 fly, finishing in 20.58 and 48.40, respectively. The sophomore was the men’s team’s only double winner, and in the past three meets Lanfear has won seven individual events.

Other winners in individual events were junior Henry Shemet in the 100 free, freshman Liam Preston in the 500 free and junior Eric Kroon in the 100 breast. Shemet clocked in at 46.46, Preston in 4:34.68 and Kroon in 56.07.

“Just about everyone had [their] best times this season,” Cummiskey said. “On the men’s side Liam Murphy, [Preston], [Lanfear], [Kroon] — so many. So [it was] a collective group effort out there.”

Senior Ryan Cohn entered this meet having won all but one diving event he has competed in this season. The senior won the one-meter event with a score of 268.05 points, but dropped to third in the three-meter with 264.90 points.

“[Cohn] certainly should be pretty confident,” Cummiskey said. “He’s been competitive at every meet and has probably been the most consistent training-wise that he’s been in his four years. So [I’m] definitely excited to see him continue that for the next two months.”

Despite finding themselves down on the scoreboard, the Bearcat men clawed their way back into the meet, winning the last three events in a row. This included the final race of the meet, the 200 free relay. The team was composed of Shemet, Murphy and seniors Justin Meyn and Ryan Maierle — who clocked in a final time of 1:23.92 to take the gold. However, the rally was too little too late as Binghamton fell 128-115.

“We’ve seen [resilience] on both sides,” Cummiskey said. “Our first meet, the women had that same battle to come back and win a meet against Canisius. The men fought real hard today and swam well and competed well. Winning the last three races in a row pulled us a lot closer than we had been in the middle and it’s great to see.”

BU will take a break from competition to prepare for the Rhode Island Invitational. Cummiskey said the goal is to take some time to feel good and healthy for the invitational.

“Try to feel good and feel fast,” Cummiskey said. “Get healthy, really hone in on some race-specific training and race strategy, and just kind of bring it down a little bit and feel good going into our invite.”

The Rhode Island Invitational is set to begin Friday, Nov. 18. First race is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at the Tootell Aquatic Center in Kingston, Rhode Island.