The Binghamton men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams kicked off their fall season with a win over Le Moyne during Homecoming weekend. In the annual meet between the Dolphins and Bearcats, the men won 243-57 while the women captured a 234-66 victory.

“I thought it was a good start,” said Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey. “We were ready to go. You don’t often have meets where we win every event on both sides. The team was focused and prepared. They’ve been training hard for the past month and were eager to race. Most importantly, they had fun doing it.”

Leading the way for the Bearcat women on Saturday in individual events was junior Maria Pignatelli. In her season debut, Pignatelli won the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle events with times of 25.12 and 54.56, respectively.

“[Maria] won both the 50 and 100, and she looked strong,” Cummiskey said. “Across the board, a lot of people contributed well and performed great.”

The returning Bearcat men also put together some wins on Saturday. Junior Liam Preston captured gold in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.74 while also leading a 1-2 finish in the 100-yard butterfly alongside junior Patrick Lang, with respective times of 51.93 and 52.04. Preston also swam on the 200-yard freestyle relay team with sophomore Cullin Cole and freshmen William Deutmeyer and Evan Peters, which captured gold with a time of 1:24.89.

“It’s great to win a lot of events,” Cummiskey said. “The number of 1-2 finishes really shows that we have a lot of people who can contribute to our team. I think everyone did a good job of staying focused, even though the meet was in hand. They found value in their racing and are looking to improve moving forward.”

After earning America East all-conference honors to cap off his freshman season, sophomore Harrison Lambert opened his year strong by taking for the men’s 1000-yard freestyle recording a time of 9:45.73, to lead a BU podium sweep. Lambert also silvered in the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:59.38 behind sophomore Julius Tuguinay who finished the 200-yard IM in first with a time of 1:59.05.

“It’s important to focus on making progress,” Cummiskey said. “This is a long season, and we have months of work ahead of us. It’s a grind, and they need to embrace that and take it day by day. It’s nice to see new faces making an immediate impact.”

Also beginning her second year as a Bearcat on a high note was sophomore Juliette Phillips. Phillips took first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:00.61, six-tenths of a second faster than her fellow Bearcat freshman Maichina Gennarelli who finished the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:00.67.

“The mental aspect of racing is huge,” Cummiskey said. “Some handle the pressure better than others. Today was a good opportunity to stay relaxed and not feel that pressure. We need to ensure we perform well, even when we don’t have such a lead.”

BU will continue its season with meets against Bryant starting on Friday, Oct. 18 to Saturday, Oct. 19. First race is set for 5 p.m. at the Patricia A. Saunders Aquatic Center in Vestal, New York.