MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING

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Men's Swimmers Drop Close Meet to Ohio

Zach Ruske

BUFFALO, NY – In a meet that came down to the final event, the University at Buffalo men's swimming and diving team fell short of extending their season-opening unbeaten streak, dropping a 124-117 decision to Ohio University at Alumni Arena Natatorium. UB and Ohio now hold identical 3-1 overall and 1-1 league records.

After Ohio opened the meet by winning the first two events and jumping out to a 25-11 lead, UB stormed back to take the next seven events and hold a 92-76 edge, their largest of the day, with four events remaining. However, the Bulls were unable to nail down the win as Ohio took three of the final four events, including the final relay by a fraction of a second.

In the final race, the 400-yard freestyle relay, UB led 113-111 but Ohio's Luke Herlehy touched out UB's Luke Adams (Quinnesec, MI/Kingsford) by a scant 14-hundredths of a second to win the race and give the Bobcats the team victory. Ohio finished in 3:10.46 to UB's 3:10.60 as UB's foursome of Kevin Schuster (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena), Zach Ruske (Superior, CO/Monarch), Michael Gerlach (Penfield, NY/Penfield) and Adams matched the Ohio racers stroke for stroke, posting a season-best time in the event.

Schuster won a pair of sprint freestyle events for the Bulls. He opened with a win in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.77 and followed with a victory in the 100-yard freestyle in 47.62.

Michael McDowell

Freshman diver Michael McDowell (Rush, NY/Rush Henrietta) also picked up two wins. McDowell claimed first in the 1-meter diving with 277.28 points for six dives and captured the 3-meter event with a total of 323.26 points.

Gerlach won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:44.13. Ruske won the 200-yard individual medley in 1:56.88. Freshman Scott Woster (North Pole, AK/North Pole) turned in a lifetime best with his victory in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:54.55.

The Bulls also claimed the top three spots in the 200-yard backstroke. Freshman Andrew Tamchyna (Newmarket, Ontario/Newmarket) won the race in 1:54.98 with Ruske taking second in 1:55.22 and sophomore Richard Shi (Ottawa, Ontario/Merivale) finishing third in 1:57.23.

Ohio edged ahead in the all-time series with the Bulls taking a 5-4 lead in their nine meetings since 1998.

Head coach Budd Termin was pleased with his team's efforts although they were unable to pull out the victory. "I put the right lineup together. Everybody did what they were supposed to do," said Termin. "It was nailbiter."

The Bulls travel to Oxford, OH on Friday, January 19 for their next meet where they will face defending MAC champion Miami at 1:00 pm.