Over the weekend, the Binghamton swimming and diving teams competed in the culmination of their entire season at the America East (AE) Championships in Massachusetts. After four days full of events, the men and women achieved second and fifth place finishes, respectively, and several BU students received individual honors for their performances.

“Both of our programs had great weekends that we are very proud of,” said Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey. “We had multiple school, freshmen and conference records throughout the weekend, and collectively, I think it was our best conference meet in the last four years. Our team got better this week, and we look forward to building off this meet into continue success in the seasons to come.”

Highlighting day one of competition for BU was the 800 free relay team composed of juniors Jake Vecchio, Henry Shemet, Liam Murphy and freshman Liam Preston. The quartet took first place with a time of 6:30.57, setting a new conference, meet and pool record. The men went on to set another school record in the 200 medley relay consisting of freshman Max Kaback, sophomore Elijah Lanfear, and seniors Ryan Maierle and Justin Meyn, clocking in a time of 1:27.85. On the women’s end, junior Maddie Hoover stood out, leading the 800 free relay with a split of 1:49.20. Both teams sat in third place at the end of the day.

Day two of the championships saw several Bearcats continue their winning ways. Murphy took gold in the 500 with a time of 4:24.52, making it his third straight in that event. Additionally, senior Ryan Cohn won the three-meter diving, tallying a score of 294.60. Hoover continued her solid tournament for the women, getting a school record time of 4:54.47 in the 500 relay to finish third in the event. At the end of the day, the men remained in third while the women dropped to fifth overall.

The tournament’s third day saw two more winning representatives from Binghamton, including Murphy who achieved victory once again, grabbing a time of 1:37.26 in the 200 free. Shemet also picked up another win, finishing six seconds ahead of the runner-up to win the 400 IM with a time of 3:52.33. BU’s top performer in the women’s bracket on the day was junior Courtney Moane, who got second in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:03.27. Their performance saw the men move into second place overall, while the women remained in fifth going into the final day.

On the last day of the AE Championships, Binghamton added just one more individual winner to its tally before honors were handed out. Lanfear won the men’s 100 free with a time of 44.53, his first-ever individual AE title. After everything was all said and done, the BU men remained in second place, finishing just behind UMBC. The women remained where they were the prior day as they finished in fifth place while New Hampshire took the top spot.

Cohn and Preston were both given individual awards recognizing their performances in the AE this season. Cohn was named Most Outstanding Men’s Diver, making it the fourth year in a row a Bearcat has held this title. On the other hand, Preston was made the first Binghamton student in 14 years to win Men’s Most Outstanding Rookie.

“While we ended up short of our goal on the men’s side, our guys should be extremely proud of the effort and fight they had all meet,” Cummiskey said. “I am so proud of both our teams and especially our seniors for their efforts over the last four years to continue to elevate our program.”