PITTSBURGH, PA - The University at Buffalo's men's swimming and diving squad stands ninth in a 20-team field after the first day of competition at the ECAC Championships hosted by the University of Pittsburgh. The Bulls have 52 points as four-time defending ECAC champion Maryland-Baltimore County opened the meet with an insurmountable lead over second-place Marist, 217.50-133.50.

Jon Yarger

Leading the Bulls was freshman Jon Yarger (Centre Hill, PA/Penns Valley) who established a lifetime-best time of 4:43.24 to take seventh place in Thursday's final. Yarger turned in a 4:43.43 preliminary time, also seventh-fastest in the event. Yarger's clocking was the 36th lifetime best set by the Bulls in the 2001-02 season.

Yarger also joined Kevin Kotowski (Wilmington, DE/Salesianum), Aviv Oren (Rishon Le-Zion, Israel/Makif A') and Tony Lizauckas (Buffalo, NY/Kenmore West) in powering the Bulls to a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:25.75. The time bettered their qualifying round mark of 1:26.83, which also was the fourth-fastest of the day.

Also scoring points for the Bulls was the 400 medley relay team of Lizauckas, Oren, Geoff Wells (Waterville, OH/Anthony Wayne) and Kotowski. The foursome took a 12th-place finish in 3:35.62, improving on their qualifying time of 3:36.22 during the morning session.

Head coach Budd Termin was pleased with his young charges following Thursday's finals. "The freshmen [Yarger, Oren and Wells] are putting points on the board," Termin said.

The Bulls head into Friday's competition, consisting mostly of stroke events, with confidence. UB is within striking distance of several teams and could move higher in the standings by the end of the second day's events.

Competition concludes on Saturday. UB then heads for Athens, OH and the Mid-American Conference Championships starting March 8.