In what has turned out to be a very successful season, the Binghamton University swimming and diving team will head up to Maine for the America East Conference Championships this weekend with fervor, going in with all that they have got and hoping to come out with victory.
During the meet, the Bearcats will be ranked both as individuals and as teams. UMBC has been the AE Champion for three consecutive years while Binghamton has taken silver in the last four years of the event, but head coach Sean Clark and his Bearcats hope to steal the title away from the Retrievers. The winner of the event will move on in the NCAA championships.
Thursday’s games included the 800-freestyle relay, 1-meter diving, 3-meter diving, and 200 medley. Today, the conference will feature the 500-freestyle, 200-IM and 50-freestyle. Saturday will be the 400-im, 100-butterfly, 200-freestyle, 100 breaststroke, men’s 3 meter and 100 backstroke. Sunday’s events include the 200 backstroke, 100-freestyle, 200-breastroke, 200 butterfly, 1650-freestyle and 400-freestyle and will finally end with the awards ceremony.
Bearcat fans will have to keep an eye out for junior Brenno Varanda who is the two-time reigning AE champ in the 200 breaststroke and 400 IM. He has the team high 21 individual wins and is the top seed in both events. Varanda also holds the second slot in the 100-breaststroke and 200-IM.
Junior Andrew Palumbo is a leader in both breaststroke events. He is seeded third in the 200 breast and fourth in the 100. Palumbo places second on the team with nine individual wins.
Freshman Jason Chen makes his debut with his fellow underclassmen in the AE championship. He brings with him eight individual victories and as well as a team high of seven different events in this season overall. Chen also hopes to contend for an individual crown.
For the divers, the Bearcats will bring out two-time America East Diver of the Week honoree junior Ryan Graham. Graham beat the school record for the 1 meter and 3 meter events and became the first Bearcat to qualify for the NCAA Zone “A” Championships that will take place March 14 to 16 at the University at Buffalo.
Other notable Divers to look out for include Matt Russo and Bob Nolte.
In the women’s corner enters freshman Brittany Detlef recording the team-high six individual victories. Detlef is seeded ninth in the 100-back, 11th in the 200 fly and 14th in the 100-fly. As a newcomer Detlef has proven to be a diamond in the rough, and Clark is “excited to see what she can do this weekend.”
The women divers hope to take the AE finals with junior Kate Hassfurter who holds the school record in the 1-meter dive and is second all time in the 3-meter event.
With such talent in the AE Championship, there’s definitely one thing that the Binghamton squad has that all the other schools lack, and that is a Bearcat heart. That will definitely show through in the competition.