Men's Swimmers Unable to Catch RedHawks

Zach Ruske

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men’s swimming and diving team dropped a 138-105 decision to visiting Miami (OH) on Saturday's senior day matchup at Alumni Arena Natatorium. With the loss, the Bulls now stand at 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Mid-American Conference. The RedHawks are now 5-4 overall and 1-0 in league action.

UB jumped out to an early lead as the Bulls won the opening event, the 400-yard medley relay, in dramatic fashion. Anchor and freestyle specialist Zach Ruske (Superior, CO/Monarch) caught Miami's final swimmer within the final 10 yards and touched the wall ahead of his opponent by two-tenths of a second. The Bulls foursome of Andrew Tamchyna (Newmarket, Ontario/Newmarket), Jordan Matthews (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), Scott Woster (North Pole, AK/North Pole) and Ruske finished in a season-best 3:31.56 to the RedHawks' 3:31.76.

Kevin Song

Ruske was also victorious in the 200-yard backstroke as the Bulls swept the top three places in the event. Ruske turned in a clocking of 1:52.19, with Tamchyna second in 1:55.56 and Richard Shi (Ottawa, Ontario/Merivale) third in 1:59.70.

Other winners for the Bulls included Woster in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:55.88, Kevin Song (Ottawa, Ontario/Sir Robert Borden) in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:10.44 and Michael McDowell (Rush, NY/Rush Henrietta) on the one-meter diving board with 331.95 points.

Prior to the start of the meet, the Bulls honored their seniors for the 2008 campaign, Sean Beecher (Cordova, AK/Cordova) and Mike Hurst (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena).

The Bulls travel to St. Bonaventure for a February 6 matchup with the Bonnies in the regular season finale. Meet time is 6:00 pm.