Some things never change.
The Binghamton men’s swimming and diving team defied the odds to deliver another victory, narrowly defeating Stony Brook 122-121 to finish its season undefeated in conference play. The women were defeated 155-81 to fall to 1-10 on the year.
The men’s team has been doing it all along — defying odds. The first challenge presented itself on Nov. 5, as Binghamton defeated its conference nemesis and two-time defending champion UMBC, 123-120. Similar to that meet, the Bearcats had to squeak out a victory against the Seawolves Saturday.
“We knew going into it, it would be a really close meet,” said junior captain Brian Koizim. “[Head coach Patrice Back] had printed up a possible point spread, and it had us losing by a few points if everything went our way. Friday night we had a team meeting and ripped up the point spread. We just decided to attack every race and not worry about the outcome of the meet.”
The Seawolves’ last ditch effort of sporting speedo fastskins — championship attire — to solidify a victory against the Bearcats proved worthless, as the unshaven BU squad still won. Despite the harrowing odds, Binghamton motivated itself and sustained the momentum throughout Saturday’s meet, starting with the first relay.
“We were behind the entire first relay until Kaan caught the kid in the last two lengths,” said Koizim, who broke the school record in the 100 back leg of the race, referring to sophomore Kaan Tayla. “We can’t deny that we had some doubts going in. We knew that if we lost the first relay it was going to be really tough to bounce back from. So, getting a win there really sparked everyone for the rest of the meet.”
Tayla, freshman Brenno Varanda and senior Wade Rimbach dominated the freestyle events, claiming victories for Binghamton in all five. Tayla touched first in the 50 (21.08) and 100 (46.20), Rimbach in the 200 (1:46.00) and Varanda in the 500 (4:47.05) and 1,000 (10:01.09). Junior David Holmes also touched first in the 200 fly (1:58.39) and 200 IM (1:53.54).
“We knew we were better than those kids and that was the attitude we took going into yesterday’s meet,” Koizim said.
Two weeks before the Feb. 16-19 America East Championships, the men proved themselves to be the dominant team in the conference.
But it was all about the seconds on the women’s side. Sophomore Nicole Sweeney led the team with two second-place finishes — in the 1,000 free (11:15.44) and 200 fly (2:20.00). Freshman Aleksandra Grubic touched second in the 200 free (1:59.46), freshman Angela Zhu in the 200 back (2:18.42) and senior Christine Carroll in the 200 breast (2:37.88). Freshman Katherine Hassfurter claimed second in the one-meter diving event and junior Shelly Wax finished second in the three-meter diving event.
“Everyone who swam yesterday, whether they finished first or fifth, contributed to our win,” Koizim said. For example, sophomore Michael Britvan, who was not even scheduled to swim due to an illness, provided pivotal points for his team.
“I think that a big team win like this prior to going into champs is huge, in that it brings everyone on the team together,” Koizim added.
The Bearcats will take a break from competition this weekend as they finish their taper before heading to Boston for Championships.