PITTSBURGH, PA - The University at Buffalo concluded the 2003 ECAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool with a seventh place finish among 30 scoring teams. The Bulls scored 231 total points and dropped from fifth place where they had been after the each of the first two nights of competition. Maryland-Baltimore County easily won the team title with 564 points followed by Seton Hall at 419.50. Marist (393), Towson (352.50), Rider (280), Yale (231) and UB (231) rounded out the top seven teams.

Patrick Lee

UB freshman diver Patrick Lee (North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawanda) scored another impressive finish on Sunday night with his showing in the one-meter event. Lee scored 262.20 points to place second overall after finishing second on the three-meter board in Friday's competition. UB teammate Jim Taravella (Hamburg, NY/Orchard Park) also earned championship points for the Bulls with his seventh-place finish scoring 221.65 points.

Jim Taravella

The Bulls also scored in the 400 freestyle relay with a 10th-place finish. The combination of Jon Yarger (Centre Hill, PA/Penns Valley), Jeff Hurst (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena), Aviv Oren (Rishon Le-Zion, Israel/Makif A') and Mark Sy (Scarborough, Ontario/Mary Ward) touched the wall in 3:11.22, to post a season-best performance in the event.

Oren scored a 12th-place finish in the 200 breaststroke in 2:08.68. Freshman Kurt Bessel (Mexico, NY/Mexico Academy) scored a lifetime-best with his finish in the 200 backstroke with his clocking of 1:57.33.

The Bulls just missed points in the 1650 freestyle final as UB's swimmers finished 17th and 18th. Alan Lowe (Brownsville, TX/Hanna) took 17th in 16:37.45 while Dustin Hui (Gardner, MA/Gardner) placed 18th in a season-best 16:42.04. Only the top 16 finishers in each event score points.

UB hosts the Mid-American Conference Championships Thursday through Saturday at Alumni Arena Natatorium. Preliminaries begin at noon with finals at 7:00 pm each day.