In its final competition of the fall campaign, the Binghamton men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams went up against their strongest competition thus far at the Brown Invitational. With several schools and America East records broken along the way, the Bearcat men finished third and the Bearcat women finished sixth in the four-day meet.

“Our goal there is to kind of have a dress rehearsal for [AE] championships and compete at a high level,” said Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey. “We switched what invite we went to … to up the level of competition that we see. The top of this invite is probably even stronger than our conference meet, to some extent, so it’s a good test for us.”

Continuing his historic senior year, senior Elijah Lanfear brought home several medals for BU to lead the men’s bronze medal placement. After beginning his weekend on the individual side with a time of 19.82 and a victory in the 50 free, Lanfear would see his greatest individual successes yet in the 100-meter events. The Bearcat captured the 18-year-old AE record in the 100 free with a time of 43.21 for his second gold of the weekend before breaking his personal school records with a preliminary time of 46.70 and a second-place time of 46.83 in the 100 fly. Notably, Lanfear’s efforts in the 100 free and 100 fly prelims met the NCAA B-cut standard to put him in the pool of contenders for an NCAA Championship bid.

“It’s hard to say but we have kind of expected more from [Lanfear] just based on what we see training wise and what we’ve seen day to day,” Cummiskey said. “We felt like he was due for some good drops the last year or so, so it’s good to see those finally come. You know that 100 fly [record] was his best time from two years ago, and the 100 free was really a step in the right direction of what we thought he was really capable of.”

Lanfear was also a part of AE and Binghamton history as a part of the 400 free relay quartet with junior Liam Preston, sophomore Cullin Cole and freshman Evan Peters. The team eclipsed the event record in the AE set by Binghamton last year with a time of 2:55.91 to capture fourth overall. This record was just one part of a meet that netted Peters AE male Rookie of the Week honors, as he captured silver in the 200 free with a time of 1:37.76 while his preliminary 500 free time of 4:25.80 broke BU’s freshman record.

“You don’t always know what to expect from your freshmen, especially first-semester guys, as they adjust to college life and how we train and all those variables,” Cummiskey said. “Oftentimes it’s just learning experience, and they don’t have those significant drops. So to see such a good group of guys who’ve worked hard come in and see that, it certainly is a relief for us and exciting.”

Leading the way for the Bearcat women at the event was senior Lauren Kuzma, who netted two medals and a school record of her own across the four-day meet. Kuzma took bronze in the 100 breast with a time of 1:03.54, while she captured silver and lowered her personal school record in the 200 breast with a time of 2:15.38.

“[Kuzma’s] motivated,” Cummiskey said. “This is her last opportunity to compete, and she’s certainly going to leave it on the pool. So we’re excited to see where she can go.”

The starting guns will now be silent for the remainder of 2024 for the Bearcats. BU will return to action back in its home pool on Saturday, Jan. 11 as it hosts Fairfield. First race is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Patricia A. Saunders Aquatic Center in Vestal, New York.