Six Bulls Named as Mid-Major Honorable Mentions

BUFFALO, NY – Six members of the University at Buffalo men's and women's swimming and diving teams were named to the CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major All-American Team as honorable mention recipients.

Named from the UB men's squad were Phil Aronica, Matt Hogan, Matt Schwippert and Jared Heine. Brynn Marecki and Caroline Simmons were honored from UB's women's team.

Aronica, Hogan, Schwippert and Heine combined to win the 200-yard medley relay at the Mid-American Conference Men's Championships in 1:27.87, earning an NCAA B cut and breaking the old UB record by nearly three seconds as well as setting the MAC and MAC Championship records in the event. The Bulls swept all five relays at the league championships, setting school records in each race, en route to their first team title since joining the league in 1999. Heine and Hogan were part of four of UB's winning relays at the meet while Aronica was part of three and Schwippert two.

Individually, Heine won the 50-yard freestyle championship in a season-best 20.26 and the 100-yard freestyle in 44.44 after he broke his own school record in the preliminary heats as the fastest qualifier with his 44.38 clocking, breaking his 2010 mark of 44.67. Hogan won the 200-yard freestyle in a school record 1:37.05 as he earned a B cut. Schwippert attained B cuts in both the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes as he finished second in both races at the league championships. He set the UB record in the 200-yard race in 1:44.27. Aronica broke Schwippert's 100-yard backstroke record as he swam the opening leg of the 400-yard medley relay turning in a 48.03 clocking during his turn in the water.

Marecki attained a B cut of 1:02.70 in the preliminary round of the 100-yard breaststroke at the MAC Women's Championships. In the championship race, she finished fifth in 1:03.21. Marecki also reached the championship final of the 200-yard breaststroke as she finished eighth in a season-best 2:16.46.

Simmons won her second consecutive MAC title in the 100-yard freestyle, breaking her own school record and establishing a pool record. Simmons won the race in 49.67, breaking the mark she set in winning the 2010 MAC championship by two-hundredths of a second and earning a B cut. She also established B cuts in the 50- and 200-yard freestyle finals.

"It's a great honor for these six student-athletes to be acknowledged for their hard work in the pool," said UB head coach Andy Bachor. "These achievements well reflect the university, athletic department and the swimming and diving program."

A total of 118 male and 161 female swimmers were awarded Honorable Mention status.  Honorable mention selections are swimmers who were entered with NCAA B standards, but not selected for the 2011 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Those 279 swimmers represented 87 teams at sixty-two schools. Nineteen women and eight men earned the All-American honor based on their qualification for the 2011 NCAA Division I Championships.  It was the second-fewest number of honorees in the seven years of the program.

Fourteen collegiate swim conferences are designated as Mid-Majors: America East, Atlantic 10, Colonial Athletic Association, Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association, Horizon, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mountain Pacific, Missouri Valley, Patriot, Sun Belt, Summit, and Western Athletic. Institutions are also eligible by awarding fewer than half of the maximum-allowable scholarships (seven for women, five for men).