On Saturday, the Binghamton men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Bucknell to continue their nonconference seasons. However, neither could come away with a win, as the men fell 169-132 to the Bison and the women lost 221-79.

“We’re not looking for them to be at their best that they can be, but we’re looking for them to do their best and have their best in-season performances,” said Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey. “Week to week we’ve gotten better. Our Bucknell meet across the board was our best meet of the year from a times and competition standpoint. The outcome isn’t necessarily what we want in terms of wins and losses, but definitely happy with the trajectory that we’re headed.”

Early on in the meet, the men’s side picked up nine points in the 1000-yard freestyle as junior Zach Ciriaco won the event with a time of 9:48.12. However, following Ciriaco’s performance, BU didn’t post a single win in any swim event until sophomore Lewis Lin took to the pool. Lin grabbed nine points after winning the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:06.94 and was immediately followed by sophomore Liam Murphy clocking in at 4:47.65 in the 500-yard freestyle to also come away with gold. Even with the two swimmers posting late victories in the meet, Bucknell had already built too strong a lead.

Even as the men’s side fell to the host team on Saturday, senior Chris Egan swept the diving events for the Bearcats. In the 1-meter dive, Egan earned a final score of 294.90, and then went on to win the three-meter event with a score of 300.68. Egan posted the most individual points for the entire men’s swimming and diving team over the weekend.

While the Binghamton men posted three wins outside of the diving events, the women’s team only came away with one. The lone victory was thanks to freshman Lauren Kuzma who won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:23.16 late in the meet’s lifespan. Since the Bison already swept all of the swimming events leading up to Kuzma’s win, they had surmounted a substantial lead over the Bearcats. Although senior Amanda McGraw won the one-meter dive (253.43) and freshman Jade Liguori won the three-meter dive (240.38), the extra points never allowed BU to jump back into contention with Bucknell.

Even in the home pool, Binghamton has never beaten Bucknell.

“[Bucknell] is a very talented, deep team,” Cummiskey said. “They have multiple talented kids in each event and they’re one of the better teams in the Patriot League … They’re certainly a test and a program that we aspire to compete with. We’re definitely getting closer.”

In addition to a tough opponent in the Bisons, Cummiskey said the team has begun to hit its peak training intensity.

“We’re at our peak point of training, so they’re definitely broke down, tired, beaten up,” Cummiskey said. “They’re trying to compete each week while we’re challenging them daily.”

On Friday, Oct. 29, the Bearcats return home to take on Colgate. Unlike Bucknell, the men’s team has a perfect record against the Raiders, never having lost a meet against them. The women’s side, however, has lost on multiple occasions to Colgate, but has rebuilt its record in recent years having won its last four competitions with the Raiders.

“I think it’s split,” Cummiskey said. “On the women’s side, we expect a close meet. It’s definitely winnable, but we gotta be at our best. We gotta make sure top to bottom that we do our job in each event. On the men’s side, we’re considerably stronger. We’ll swim some different events, kind of get up and compete against ourselves a little bit, potentially try to look and break some pool records.”

The meet is set to start at 5 p.m. at the Patricia A. Saunders Aquatic Center in Vestal, New York.