The Binghamton men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams came up short against Iona on Saturday. The men lost by a score of 173.5 to 120.5, bringing their record to 2-2 on the season, while the women, who have defeated three teams on the season by over 100 points, lost 165-129, putting them at 3-2.

“We’ve started off the season pretty well,” said Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey. “Our wins have been very dominant and our losses have been pretty close — we are at peak training right now and I’m confident in our guys and girls. We didn’t swim badly today, and Iona swam well.”

Regardless of the loss, the Bearcats still had winners and notable finishers. Senior Sydney Atendido’s 100 breast time of 1:06.33 eclipsed her season-best mark en route to a first-place finish in the event. She also took first place in the 200 breast, clocking in at 2:26.68. Other first-place finishers for the women were junior Kaitlyn Smolar in the 500 free (5:15.79) and junior Erica Bachiller in the 100 back (59.37).

On the men’s side, senior Tyler Meyers took first place in the 100 free (48.23) while sophomore Ben Beldner grabbed a first-place finish in the 50 free (21.92). Senior Ross Bernstein finished second in the 200 individual medley and 200 fly with times of 1:58.85 and 1:55.54, respectively. Freshman Matthew Palguta continued his strong season by posting two second-place finishes in the 1,000 and 500 free. His 1,000 time (9:50.00), despite not being the fastest, was three seconds faster than his seedtime and his best showing of the year so far for that event.

“We aren’t going to change a lot of the stuff we do,” Cummiskey said. “We’ve got our technique, training and regimen down. It’s just a matter of adapting it to student life. A lot of people don’t realize how hard it is to practice every day and deal with things like exam periods, going home and holidays.”

While the swimmers had few individual winners, the divers swept all four of their events. Sophomore Amanda McGraw snatched two first-place finishes in both the one-meter (207.37) and the three-meter (233.70), while sophomore Chris Egan captured the three-meter (252.30) and freshman Ryan Cohn took top honors in the one-meter (268.05).

Despite not getting the result they wanted out of Saturday’s dual meet, the Bearcats must shift all their focus to the Harold Anderson Invitational next week. This will be both teams’ first time participating in the event.

“I really like the dual meets because it gives me a great idea of what we need to do and where we are at in general,” Cummiskey said. “Next week is huge for us. Although this entire semester is mostly just getting everybody right for next semester, I think our tournament next week is without a doubt the focal point of our semester and requires 100 percent of our abilities. I’m pretty happy with where everyone is standing, and I am pretty sure this tournament is going to do nothing but make me more confident in my team.”

The Harold Anderson Invitational will start on Friday, Nov. 22 and end on Sunday, Nov. 24. The invitational will take place at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island.