As the first day of competing at the America East Conference drew to a close, the Binghamton men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were in first place after sophomore Chris Egan’s first-place finish in the three-meter dive and junior Sophia Howard’s third-place finish in the one-meter dive propelled the Bearcats to an early lead. Binghamton, however, couldn’t hold on to the lead for the rest of the competition, and the men finished in second while the women took fourth.
The men finished behind UMBC, which has won four titles in a row and won 16 of 20 events this championship meet.
“I think UMBC has been good, and they just have a program that has the tradition of being good and winning, and they have the resources to do it,” said Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey. “We had a really good senior group that performed really well this year, and we’ll look to bring in some freshmen next year that will help us compete and put us right up there with UMBC.”
All of the UMBC men’s losses were to Binghamton. Egan dominated the competition in both the three-meter and the one-meter dives and took first in both events, earning himself the men’s Most Outstanding Diver award. In the three-meter, Egan had a final score of 277.35. He was followed by freshman Ryan Cohn, who had a score of 262.70. Junior David Walters took fourth with a score of 247.70 and was edged out by .25 points by UMBC senior Ben Parker, whom he beat in the preliminaries. In the one-meter, Binghamton took places one through four.
“The divers were awesome this weekend,” Cummiskey said. “[Egan] winning both events and the men going one, two, three, four was awesome.”
Sophomore Ryan Board was a huge factor for the team, as he took first in both the 100 and 200 breast. Board smashed his preliminary time in the 100 breast and broke the meet record with a time of 54.97, and the next day he dominated the 200 breast with a time of 2:01.52. These events were Board’s first and second conference titles.
“[Board] had a great meet and a great season,” Cummiskey said. “He worked hard last spring and the through the summer and this year, and it really paid off for him.”
Board, Egan, Cohn, Walters and junior Erik Temple were named to the all-conference team.
For the women, four Bearcats were named to the all-conference team: Howard, junior Kaitlyn Smolar, sophomore Katie Schultz and junior Erica Bachiller.
Howard had a score of 221.10 in the one-meter and placed second in the three-meter on the second day of the meet. She was beaten in the three-meter by New Hampshire senior Allison Stefanelli, who had a score of 264.40. Sophomore Amanda McGraw, last year’s women’s Most Outstanding Diver, was right behind Howard in fifth with a score of 215.60. Senior Jaime Campbell was also in the top six.
“[Howard] was very good,” Cummiskey said. “She’s kind of been battling an ankle injury all year, and she figured out how to work through it and make it work. She’s definitely the heart and soul of that group with the support she gives everyone.”
Smolar was also a force for the women’s side, as she took first place in the 200 free with a time of 1:51.51, fifth in the 500 free with a time of 5:00.08 and seventh in the 1,650 free with a time of 17:32.78. If Smolar swam the time she did at last year’s championship meet (17:08.63), she would have won the event. Schultz, however, propelled Binghamton in this event, as she took second place with a time of 17:22.16.
“Smolar was great,” Cummiskey said. “Winning the 200 free was great and it was awesome to see another girl win who works really hard. [Schultz] was a nice addition. We picked her up in the middle of the season — she transferred here. It was great to see her place second in the mile and fit right in and help us out.”
Other top eight Bearcat finishers included senior Dylan Van Manen, senior Ross Bernstein, freshman Justin Meyn, freshman Jackson Homan, freshman Ryan Maierle, freshman Matthew Palguta, sophomore Benjamin Beldner, senior Tyler Meyers, junior Shane Morris, freshman Brandon Berger, sophomore Brian Harding, freshman Zach Ciriaco, senior Michael Gagion, senior Olivia Santos, Bachiller, freshman Manuela Matkovic and senior Rebecca Nelson.