The Binghamton University swimming and diving teams opened their seasons on a positive note as they hosted University of Massachusetts over the weekend.
The women’s team secured its first win by just a one-point advantage, beating UMass 160-159, while the men got their first loss by a mere five points, falling 162-157 at the Patricia A. Saunders Aquatic Center.
Both teams surged forward in the first meet of the night, taking first place in the 200-yard medley relay. The women’s team of three seniors ‘ Brittany Detlef, Danielle Gallo and Amanda Ciccone ‘ and sophomore Tin Wai Siu raced to first with a time of 1:49.63. Joe Perez-Rogers, Philip Dzieniszewski, Jason Chen and David Gleason made up the men’s team and swam to first with a time of 1:33.72.
‘Our teams reached beyond my expectations this weekend,’ said Binghamton head coach Sean Clark. ‘The men’s 200 medley relay set a pool record, and the women narrowly missed a pool record for the women’s 200 medley relay.’
The men’s and women’s teams continued to dominate together in five more of the swimming meets. In the 500-yard freestyle, Siu quickly gained control of first place, winning easily with roughly 10 seconds to spare. On the men’s side, sophomore Gleason touched first with a time of 4:39.87. Gleason is the defending America East champion in this category.
Siu notched another win under her belt in the 400-yard individual medley, in which she set a pool record time of 4:32.75. On the men’s side, fellow Bearcat and junior Nolan Slesnick took first place as well, with a time of 4:12.68.
Bearcats Olivia Baczek for the women and Perez-Rogers for the men took first place in the 100-yard backstroke. Sophomore Baczek continued to dominate the backstroke as she soared to first place in the 200-yard.
Binghamton senior Chen also finished first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:53.65 for the men.
The Bearcats’ success continued as both teams took first place in the 200-yard butterfly and the 500 freestyle relay.
Siu and Ciccone finished the weekend with five overall first-place titles each, including the team races. Baczek took home three individual first-place wins.
‘We count on our front line to pick up some wins, and they certainly did that,’ Clark said. ‘Tin Wai Siu set a new pool record in the 400 individual medley, Amanda Ciccone just missed the pool record in the 200 individual medley and Olivia Baczek made her presence felt with three wins including a life-best in the 200 back.’
On the men’s side, Chen touched first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 51.16. Fellow senior Dzieniszewski swam to first place in the 100-yard breaststroke. Despite the loss, the men’s team was able to improve on its last performance.
‘We have a tremendous balance of power within our [men’s] team, where everyone knows how important they can be,’ Clark said. ‘For example, we had six different guys win events. Jason Chen had a particularly outstanding meet, with in-season life bests in all his events. David Gleason was very effective in taking on their best swimmer, and Nolan Slesnick did all he could in the longest events to push us to the top.’
The UMass Minutemen dominated in the 1,650-yard freestyle and the 200-yard breaststroke, as well as both diving events. Despite losing by a tiny margin, Clark knows his team swam well.
‘We pushed one of the best programs in the Northeast to the limit. They are multiple-time defending Atlantic-10 Conference champs,’ Clark said.
The Bearcats failed to place first in the one-meter and the three-meter diving events, but juniors Jenna Easton and Morgan Neal prevented the sweep of the top 3 by the Minutemen women. Easton took second place in the one-meter dive while Neal secured a third-place finish in the three-meter dive. The men’s best finish was fourth in both of the dives by sophomore Anthony Foiles.
The swimming and diving teams are scheduled to be back in action at 1 p.m. on Saturday as they are set to take on Drexel University in Philadelphia, Penn.