The Binghamton swimming and diving teams continued their strong seasons last weekend, earning a spilt in a dual match at Towson University, leading up to their big meet against UMBC this Saturday.

The Bearcats showed a strong effort against Towson, with freshman Brenno Varanda and sophomore Kaan Tayla winning two events each, and the diving tandem of freshman Ryan Graham and sophomore Matthew Russo dominating that part of the competition.

Junior David Holmes also made news, breaking the school record in the 200 meter with a time of 1:39.46. Holmes says the team is pleased with its performance so far.

“Last weekend showed how much the team has improved from last year,” he said. “In 2004 we went into the last race [at Towson] needing to win in order to take the meet. This year we were about 60 points clear going into the last race.”

On the women’s side, senior Eden Payabyab and freshman Aleksandra Grubic both came in as runners up in two events, and the divers had good results on the three-meter board.

The teams performed well despite traveling four hours the morning of the meet and swimming in unfamiliar conditions. The team’s efforts thus far have been excellent, a fact not lost on head coach Patrice Back.

“The swimmers are training fast and swimming fast,” Back said. “The divers are increasing the difficulty of their dives weekly. This season the team has impressed me every week.”

The Bearcats will host their first meet of the year tomorrow at the West Gym as they take on the UMBC Retrievers, whose men’s team is 1-2, and whose women have dominated, and stand at 3-0 on the season.

The team consensus is that this meet will be the most challenging of the season, but not impossible to win.

Holmes said, “This weekend is our biggest test so far, and the one meet everyone on the team wants to win.”

He added that no team in the conference has come anywhere near UMBC in duel meets since they joined the conference, and this is Binghamton’s big chance.

“A lot of good things need to happen for us on Saturday,” Holmes said, “but there is a good possibility that we can pull out a ‘W.’”