Swim Teams Dive Into Season Opening WNY Invite
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men's and women's swimming and diving teams open the 2011-12 season on Saturday with the annual WNY Invite. The meet at UB's Alumni Arena Natatorium will feature the Bulls facing Niagara, Canisius, St. Bonaventure and Binghamton.
The UB men return 20 athletes from last season's Mid-American Conference championship squad. The Bulls won their first MAC title last March at the league championship meet in Carbondale, IL. UB set 13 school records at the league meet, including a sweep of all five relay races. Phil Aronica, Jared Heine, Matt Hogan, Josh Meints and Matt Schwippert earned All-MAC First Team honors while Simon Proudfoot, Andrew Tanzey and Cory Zorch were named to the second team.
UB's women welcome back 14 swimmers and divers from last season's squad. The Bulls placed fifth among nine schools at the MAC Championship in February. Heading the list of returnees is breaststroke specialist Brynn Marecki, a Collegeswimming.com Mid-Major All-American selection last season. Also back for the Bulls is record-setting butterflier Dani Adank, top individual medley specialist Alie Schirmers and last season's top rookie Marissa Murphy.
"I am very excited for this weekend because we have the opportunity to compete against other swimmers and divers for the first time this season," said three-time MAC Coach of the Year Andy Bashor. "We have a lot of freshmen and transfers on the team swimming or diving for UB for their first time. It's going to be fun to see where we are at this point of the season. They have been doing an outstanding job and have put themselves to do very well early in the season."
The meet begins at 10 am with eight events (200-yard medley relay, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle, 200-yard butterfly, 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard freestyle). The second session, beginning at 3 pm will feature seven events (100-yard freestyle, 1,000-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke, 100-yard butterfly, 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard freestyle relay). One- and three-meter diving events will also be contested on Saturday.